We are the Sleepers
by Annoying Little Twit
Summary: Hell had broken loose on a normal day, in a normal family, in a normal neighbourhood. A single call had changed Eren's life forever. Now the rest of it would have to be spent on the run with his sister, but there is only so long a person can run before the past catches up to them, and the clock was ticking. Dawn was coming, and it's time to wake up.
1. Nightmares

**A/N:** Welcome to a new story! I'm only going to say this once, so be warned. This story is FUBAR x10. If you've read other works I've written, you've got a vague idea of what to expect. If this if your first time swimming through the remenants of my brain fodder, I apologize in advance and suggest therapy.

So, some warnings: There will be violence. Graphic violence. Lots of violence. Against lots of people. By lots of people. There will also be death, graphic and mentioned. There will be implied and graphic acts of terrorism. There will be graphic and implied acts of torture. There will be sexual descriptions of both the consensual and semi-consensual kind. There will be implied non-con at times. There will be things that make you feel sad inside. There might be things that make you feel nauseous. Mainly, there's a lot of fuck-up-ery going on.

If that hasn't scared you off, keep reading and enjoy!

-ALT

* * *

><p>"Eren, get dressed, the guests will be here soon!" Carla called down the hall. Eren looked up from his game to check the time, and his eyes widened.<p>

"_Shit!"_ he yelped, dropping the controller and rolling off his bed.

Even as his knees slammed against the floor, the sound wasn't loud enough to drown out his mother's call of, "Don't swear!"

"Here," was all he heard before a shirt was thrown in his face. The familiar scent of cinnamon and pine engulfed him before he felt the shirt being pulled down over his head, trapping his arms against his body. When his head was finally pulled through the neck opening, he gave a disgruntled stare at the bland face of his sister.

"Thanks," he groused. She just gave a small smile, backing up and reaching for her own clothes to change into. Her back was turned to him as she pulled her school uniform off and began slipping the dress on. Eren struggled to free his pinned arms, finally getting them loose enough to slide the shirt back up, pushing his arms through the long sleeves, and then back down, hiding his naturally golden skin from view. His sweatpants were swapped for a pair of slacks, and he had to dig out a pair of trouser socks - they were still in the wrapping, never needing to be worn before - and then the new, shiny shoes he had never had the need to wear either.

After all, he didn't tend to leave the house. If he went anywhere, it was with his father to work. But that was a long time ago, and now he was too busy with school to have any outings with his dad. But his mother had decided to host a dinner party for several of the neighbours and Eren was expected to look his best, and when his mother demanded the best, no one denied her. She was already annoyed that Eren's dad, Grisha, was called into work for an emergency, and she had been quite short-tempered with Eren and Mikasa all day because of that.

"We've been planning this for weeks!" she had been arguing with her husband, even as he was changing into scrubs.

"It's an emergency and I'm on call. I can't prevent people from needing surgery, I can only perform it."

Eren could hear them arguing from his room, but he tried to stay quiet and out of the way. They had been fighting more and more in recent months, and he had no desire to get in the middle of their arguments.

"At least try to be home before seven," she had finally said, dropping into her chair and burying her face in her hands to hide her misery. Grisha then knelt down, fully ready to walk out the door and head to work, but he took the time to place a gentle kiss against her hair.

"I can only do my best. But I wouldn't miss this for the world. Why would I give up the chance to eat your apple crisp?"

She looked up with a weary smile.

"I love you," she said gently, and he kissed her again.

"And I you. Now I need to go so I can return that much sooner."

While they had resolved their fight, Carla had been on edge. So when the phone started ringing twenty minutes into the party, Eren rushed to answer it, hoping it wasn't his father calling to say he couldn't make it home.

"Jaeger house!" Eren greeted, pressing his back against the wall next to the phone. He could see the guests in the living room, his mother flitting around and doing her best to look perky and cheerful. He could see the tension next to her eyes, but he knew that the guests would never notice a thing. They didn't know how to spot it as well as Eren could, having memorized the way his mother's expressions changed on a daily basis.

"Hi, is your mom or dad home?" a voice spoke, and Eren relaxed as he realized that no, the shit was _not_ going to hit the fan tonight. His dad _wasn't_ going to be at work all night again.

"They're busy," he replied, as he knew that disturbing his mom in full 'social butterfly' mode wasn't a thing that was done. She needed to be the center of attention, to entertain her guests, and she couldn't do that when talking to a stranger on the phone.

"Oh, I know. Eren, is it? I'm sure your mother would make an exception."

"I don't know. She told me not to interrupt the party upon pain of death," Eren admitted. "How do you know my name?"

"I've known your parents for a long time. They talk about you often, and I admit I wish I could meet you in person. Can you let your mom know she has a phone call?"

"Maybe you should just call back?" Eren suggested, and the person on the other side laughed heartily.

"Oh, I'm sure she'll forgive you this once."

"Fine, but you're the one she gets to yell at," Eren gave in. "What should I tell her?"

"Tell her that her favourite big brother is on the phone," the voice said, and Eren gasped.

"You're Mom's— you're my uncle?!" he said, excited. He had never met any relatives before; he didn't even know he _had_ them!

"I am! You'd probably not know that, when your parents got married, the family didn't take it so well. They haven't spoken since before you were born. Now hurry up, time is money!"

"Oh, right!" Eren said, setting the phone carefully on the counter before dashing to the living room, sliding past the mingling guests easily and coming up to his mother's side. She glanced down at him, the look in her eye clearly showing her disapproval - both of his early entrance and his haste - but her expression cleared up quickly at his message.

"Tell him he knows better than to rush me. Keep him busy until I'm ready."

"Why didn't you ever tell me I had an uncle?" Eren asked, but Carla shooed him away.

"Not now, Eren, time is money."

Eren rolled his eyes, heading back to pick up the phone. He rested it against his shoulder, levering himself onto the small counter built into the wall beside the phone. If he was going to 'keep him busy' he wasn't going to do it standing up the entire time.

"Mom's busy and said don't rush her. So I'm supposed to talk to you until she's done."

"How like Carla. The apocalypse could come and she'd tell it to give her time to finish what she was doing."

Eren laughed, delighted.

"Yes! She would, wouldn't she?"

"Did you pick that trait up from her? Or are you more like your dad?"

"Neither. Mom says I'm the best of both of them. I think she's full of sh— er, crap."

"That also sounds like your mother," his uncle said, amused. Eren grinned.

They continued to talk, Eren telling him about all the cool things he got to do with his parents because he was homeschooled. He loved being able to talk to a family member that wasn't Mom, Dad, or Mikasa, and when Carla came to finally answer the phone he reluctantly handed it over.

"Don't pout, it doesn't suit your handsome face," Carla scolded, running a thumb over his cheek to smooth out his frown. "You'll be able to meet your uncle in person soon enough. I think he's calling to let me know he's coming into town finally, like he planned to. Now go find your sister and go make nice with the neighbours."

"Yes, Mom," he said, and turned to go do just that. But he caught his mom's reflection in the looking glass beside the coat closet, and he felt his feet freezing in place.

His mom had never looked like that before. All humour and kindness had faded from her face. His uncle _had_ said she hadn't spoken to the family in years, but even at her angriest she'd never looked so…

So cruel. So mean.

"I understand. I will do my best, Commander," she said, hanging up the phone. The way she was facing, she couldn't see that Eren wasn't gone like she had told him to, and instead she pulled the closet door open and reached inside.

_What is she doing, there isn't anything in there except—_ Carla pulled out the large gun the family kept in there in case of burglars.

He didn't have time to wonder what she was doing before the screams started, and the sound of bullets leaving the weapon filled his ears.

Red painted the floor and walls behind the guests as Eren's mother gunned them down before they could flee. Eren felt his heart leap into his throat, and his eyes went wide.

What was going on? Why was his mother killing them?

He turned and fled down the hallway, barreling into his room. He couldn't see Mikasa - where was she?! No time for that, Mom was…! He ran over to his nightstand and pulled the single drawer open.

Inside rested the pistol his parents gave him for his tenth birthday. He pulled it out, checking to make sure it was still loaded. It was, and he flicked the safety off as he turned back to leave his room.

He didn't know what was going on, but he knew who was causing it. His throat felt tight.

_Mom—!_ His mind screamed in terror, but he forcefully shoved it aside. He let the gun rest at his side as he went to go join her.

He didn't know why, but he knew _who_. And that was all that mattered. He wondered if the man on the phone was really his uncle. The voice had probably lied. Eren had no relatives. He had his mother, his father, and his sister. One of them wasn't real. One of them was missing. One was going to be erased.

* * *

><p>"I'm home," Eren heard Mikasa call out as the door to the apartment opened. Eren looked up from the sofa, checking to see if Mikasa was alone - she was - before letting his head drop back down.<p>

"Dinner's on the counter," Eren replied, "welcome home."

"Nightmares?" Mikasa asked, and he grunted.

"How'd you guess?" he asked, and she gestured at him vaguely with a hand.

"You're crying. You only cry when you dream of Carla," she said quietly, and Eren wiped at his face, surprised to feel the damp against his skin.

"Yeah. It was just a dream."

But the heavy weight that pressed against their hearts reminded them both that it was much more than that. It wasn't merely a dream, but a memory. A memory that could never be forgotten. A memory that would never be forgiven. A memory they shared and endured together.

"Come on, eat something before you pass out. How was school? How was work?" he asked, rolling onto his stomach and watching her move around the small kitchenette. She poured herself a glass of juice and leaned against the counter, ignoring the plate.

"It was fine, as normal."

"No one gave you any shit?" he asked, and she raised a brow.

"Would you be able to do anything if they did?" she countered, and he wrinkled his nose.

"I would, and you know that."

"I know, Eren. I'm sorry, it was a long shift and I hate people," she growled, and Eren smiled slightly. There was the grouchy sister he knew and loved.

"But no trouble?"

"No. Same as always. You can do my homework, I'm going to bed."

She put her glass in the sink, and Eren frowned.

"You need to eat—"

"I ate at work, Eren."

"I don't believe you," he said bluntly. "Your hands are shaking, which only happens when your blood sugars are low. You haven't been taking your pills either, I counted, and don't think drinking juice will hide it. You get a pinched look around your eyes because of the headaches—"

"Eren, I am _fine_," she snapped, slamming her hand against the wall. "I'm tired, stressed, and sick of pretending that nothing is wrong!"

"I'm sorry," he said, turning his face away. "Go to bed. Get some rest. You have to go to class in the morning. Your homework will be on the counter. Please try to eat breakfast and don't get hurt or start a fight at school."

"I will be on my best behaviour. And I don't start fights," she said, "that's you."

"Goodnight," Eren said, not looking at her. He knew she was watching him, reflecting the same worry in her heart that was in his own.

"Goodnight, little brother," she said gently, before going to the single bedroom. Eren waited for several moments before rolling over and stretching.

"God damn it, Mom. I can't do this," he whispered. "Why did you do this to us? Why did you abandon us?"

He eventually got off the sofa, putting the untouched plate in the fridge and cleaning the kitchen, starting a pot of coffee before pulling Mikasa's backpack over. Using her favourite purple pen, he started looking over the homework assignments. Math, English, Biology, and Psychology.

"It's going to be a long night," he sighed, pulling the Biology assignment closer. Might as well go alphabetical.

He was able to finish the homework within a couple of hours, carefully penning them to match Mikasa's meticulously formed letters. Years of practice let Eren be able to perfectly mimic her handwriting, and it came in useful when Mikasa needed a break from pretending to be a normal high-school student. Having to attend school and work to support their meager existence was a lot of pressure on her, and so Eren tried to do what little he could to help her get through it.

It never felt like enough. He wished she didn't have to do it all for them. But he looked too much like his mother and father to safely walk the streets. Mikasa looked nothing like them and already had public school records. It hadn't been hard to keep the world spinning for her after his had stopped in its tracks.

By the time Mikasa was waking up for school, Eren had passed out, curled up next to her on top of the covers. He barely registered her shifting to pull him closer, wrapping the blanket around both of them and remaining that way until she had to go to school. It wasn't easy for either of them, but they had to move on, and they only had each other to rely on. The world wouldn't accept the truth, so they had to live the lie. He only needed to get through one day at a time, and the lie would get easier to believe as time passed.

But Mikasa never came home that day, and the light on the answering machine was blinking. By the time the door was broken down and the room was filled with armoured SWAT units, Eren's trail was cold.


	2. Nightmares 2

It was chance that they found the Jaeger girl. It was a day off and a group of the trainees opted to go downtown and do some shopping.

"We should watch this," Connie said, holding up a movie case with a 'NEW!' sticker smacked on the front of the shrink-wrapped package. Jean wrinkled his nose, shaking his head.

"No, if we're making this a movie night, let's not watch something that's complete shit," he countered, reaching behind the shorter boy and pulling a case off the shelf as well. Armin rolled his eyes as the two boys started their pointless arguing, not wanting to get involved. He knew how it would end. Sasha and Marco would come back from the frozen food aisle with their snacks, put them in the cart, look at the two movie options and then pick an entirely different one, and the two boys would give in and watch whatever the two suggested.

It didn't even take analyzing the situation. At this point, it was just routine. He let his eyes roam the faces around him, tuning out the bickering. But his mind was brought back into sharp focus when a flash of grey and black walked past, and he stood up straighter, body rigid. Connie and Jean went quiet, turning slightly to look at him questionably.

"Tell me you brought your guns with you," Armin said lowly, his hand already moving to check his own weapon. It was present, as was regulation when leaving the base. While it was their day off, duty never rested and one must always be ready to act in the defense of their country. He could see Jean and Connie making the same check, and he heard a sharp breath draw in behind him.

"What's going on?" Marco asked softly, even as he leaned over Armin to put the frozen goods in the cart. Armin didn't take his eyes off of the too-familiar face at the end of the aisle, and Armin whispered lowly.

"I know her."

"And that's not a good thing?"

"No, considering _how_ I know her."

Marco made a confused noise, but Armin gave a sharp shake of his head, silencing any questions.

"Not the time, Bodt. Just be prepared to fire if necessary. She wouldn't hesitate in return."

But it was too late to make the first move. They had lingered too long, the silence too deafening in the small supermarket aisle. Her face turned to look them over, her almond-shaped eyes roaming their faces before landing on Armin's.

He could see her eyes roaming his features, her face never giving away the recognition he could see burning in her gaze. He felt a sense of dread and relief pass through him as she set her small hand basket on the floor and turned out of the aisle.

"After me," Armin said, setting a brisk pace after her. He could feel the others falling in line, their steps echoing in unison. The girl stood outside the store with her back turned towards them, and as the automatic door slid closed behind them her hands rose into the air, showing the group that they were empty.

"Hello, Armin. A pleasure to see you again. Have you been well?"

"Mikasa Jaeger, you are under arrest for crimes against humanity. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you," Armin started, moving forward and pulling the handcuffs off of his belt.

"I never expected you to join the military," she said softly. "Eren will be proud of you. He always knew you would go far. Are you eating regularly? It's not healthy to skip meals, you know-"

"I wouldn't talk, Jaeger," Armin cut in harshly.

"Life was so much simpler as children, wasn't it?"

"…It's good to see you again, Mikasa. I wish it was under better circumstances."

"It's okay. Though I doubt these handcuffs are the same kind we played with as kids."

"No, they aren't," Armin agreed, even as he pulled Mikasa to sit over on a bench. They had to wait for a car to come grab them. The others remained silent, their guns drawn and ready to shoot the woman beside him. "These don't have a safety release."

"Pity. I'm going to be late for dinner."

"Don't worry, Eren will be joining you for dinner tonight instead."

Mikasa looked over, offering a sad smile.

"I doubt that, but it would be nice, wouldn't it? I don't think we've all shared a meal since Carla was alive."

"Don't talk about her," Armin snapped, losing the kind tone he had taken with her. Mikasa sighed sadly.

"Now you sound like Eren."

That caused a stir of unease in his gut. He hadn't seen Eren Jaeger or his sister, Mikasa, in almost five years. The last he had heard was that they escaped in the confusion their mother, Carla, had started at her party. The uprising had taken days to quell, but the military _had_ stopped it. The body count had been too high though, so it was a bitter victory. That was when Armin knew he could never let something like this happen again, not when he could prevent it.

He was never going to let a family like the Jaegers slide under his radar again to destroy his home and loved ones.

The call was placed to the base, and a car was being dispatched to come collect them. Armin wondered why it was regulation to carry a firearm on him at all times, but that secure vehicles were rationed out sparingly and only for use in actual conflict or dangerous situations. The others would be going back in the car that they drove down here, but the car that the base would be sending had more secure holding for suspects in the rear. There wasn't much to do but wait, Mikasa having fallen silent beside him. Her eyes stared blankly at the ground between her feet, her dark hair falling to hide her features.

It struck him again how Mikasa looked nothing like her brother or parents. While the other Jaeger family members showed strong European roots in their features, Mikasa was delicate and frail in comparison. Instead of having the brown hair of her brother and mother, she had inky black hair that held no hint of a curl to it, unlike her family. Her eyes were slanted and had neither the grey nor blue of her family. She was distinctly of Asian descent, which always confused him. Why would the Jaegers have an Asian child? It hadn't bothered him as a child, but now that he knew the truth it made no sense.

The Jaegers had been terrorists fighting for their home country. Why would they have a child who wasn't German? It didn't make sense.

There wasn't much time to keep pondering it as the squad car pulled up to the curb. There were no strobe lights on top, and the local police insignia was not embellished on the body. Instead, it was a standard military brown, with the black letters boldly printed on each side.

DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY

No words were exchanged as Armin guided a docile Mikasa into the backseat. When the door was closed, locked from the outside and secure from the inside, the woman driving raised a thin, red eyebrow at him.

"Are you sure she's a terrorist?"

"I grew up with her family," Armin said shortly. "There's no question about it."

The woman went quiet, getting back into the driver's seat. It wasn't a secret that Armin was one of the few survivors of the massacre his neighbourhood went through five years ago, and it also wasn't a secret that it was not a topic to pursue. Any time it was brought up, Armin grew sullen and angry, his normally friendly facade turning into a dark, roiling storm, and so any mention of that time was better left unsaid.

The ride back to the base was silent, except for Mikasa humming to herself quietly. Armin vaguely recognized the tune as a nursery rhyme that was often sung in the Jaeger home, and it made him feel nauseated.

_Three blind mice, three blind mice, see how they run?_

* * *

><p>Levi pulled his helmet off, shaking his head to get his damp hair off of his face. The full-body armour was suffocating to wear, and if it weren't required he'd never bother with the full suit. But he was dealing with a Jaeger, and the situation was unknown and a chance not worth risking.<p>

It had been five years, but the fear that the name Jaeger could bring up in the average citizen had not lessened. It was a name only whispered, never spoken. Most people tried not to even think about it, or how that name was associated with one of the largest terrorist attacks seen on American soil in over a decade.

"Clear!" he heard called from the back room, and Levi swore under his breath. How had the brother found out? It was then that he noticed the blinking light on the counter, and he wandered over to it.

It was an answering machine, a device that had long gone out of style with the advancement of cell phones and voicemail technology. But here it was, sitting next to a dingy plastic phone, and he carefully pressed the button that would play the new message.

"New message at two-thirty-five P.M.," a robotic female voice read, and then a long tone followed before a woman's voice spoke.

"Hey Dad, it's me. I saw a friend and thought I'd go over to his place for dinner. Don't save anything for me, I'm spending the night. Be safe! Don't forget you work tonight, time is money."

The message cut off there, and the room was silent, looking at the machine. One of the other squad members pulled their mask off, and the face of one of the newer recruits was revealed.

"How did she have time to call? It wasn't even a minute from when she left the aisle to when we cuffed her outside!"

"She would have called on the walk out. You can hear the movement of air against the speaker. She was in motion when she spoke. It was a warning," another recruit, the Arlert boy, replied, lifting his own visor up to reveal an annoyed look.

"Why did he leave it on the machine though? Wouldn't it have been better to erase it? He left it showing as new," another voice said, muffled by the mask.

"He didn't finish the message. He was out of the door at the first words. This machine has never been used before," Levi noted, looking at the setup. "There's dust all over it, and the tape has never moved. They've only lived here a couple months, there wouldn't have been enough time to need to change it since moving in."

"So we're at a dead end, again," Arlert sighed, running a hand through sweat-soaked bangs. Levi glanced over at him.

"We have the girl, would the boy abandon her?"

"I don't know," he admitted. "The boy I knew wouldn't, he was very protective of her. But…"

"That was before the attack."

"Yeah," Arlert agreed. "I don't know if what I remember about him is even the truth."

"Well, let's secure what we can here and keep an eye out in case he decides to return. Arlert, you're in charge of recon. I'll get security set up and meet you at the base," Levi ordered, and the younger man saluted.

"Yes, Corporal!" he said, and Levi dismissed him from his sight.

"Something isn't right here. Why would he run?"

"He doesn't want to get caught." The face of his subordinate, Petra, revealed, her face also shining with sweat. The full-body armour suits were a pain in the ass to wear in the middle of summer.

"He did flee as a child," Levi recalled, and Petra nodded.

"He was only eleven at the time. Do you really think he was part of the attack?" Petra asked, her voice showing her doubt. "He would have been just a boy."

"A boy born and raised by sleeper agents, Lieutenant Ral," he reprimanded. "The possibility of him being trained and raised to fight for their cause is too great to let him run amok. It's not a secret that his family was the head of the agents in this country, and he would still hold that responsibility for any that remained."

"So you think this will happen again," Petra noted, and Levi gave a sharp nod.

"It was ended too easily. Carla Jaeger was taken down with a single bullet, execution style, and the shooter remains unknown and the weapon was never recovered. Grisha Jaeger is still at large, their son went missing during the attack, and now we have a lead on his trail. We find out there was a sister involved, and we have her in custody. Too much is unknown, and the attack didn't last as long as it should have. Only the agents that had been sleeping in that state rose to the battle, and they were placed in charge of a _nation_ of them. Why would I believe this was all I should expect?"

The rest of the ride back to the base was silent as they both dwelt on those facts. It had been too easy, though the body count would say otherwise. The fact is that Levi knew it could have been much worse. There were too many unknown variables, and he hated not knowing all of the facts almost as much as he hated it when the new recruits left the locker room a disaster.

"Remind me to get dorm 104 on latrine duty," he told her, and she grinned.

"Yes, Corporal."

* * *

><p>Eren didn't stop moving until he was near the city limits, sliding to the ground in a small alley, the only witness a cat sitting on the dumpster that jumped down and ran away after he entered its domain. He had the hood of his jacket up, which made him feel too warm in the July heat, and he pressed his hands over his eyes.<p>

They had Mikasa. They had his sister. How? How did they find out?

There were no records of when Mikasa came to live with them. She wasn't his sister by blood, and that was clear enough from how different they looked. The only way someone would have connected Eren and Mikasa together is if they had known them personally, and there weren't many people alive who could do that.

When the phone had rung, he'd felt his pulse start to race. When the code word came through the shitty answering machine he had picked up at a thrift store, he hadn't bothered to stay to hear the rest.

Mikasa would only call and call him 'Dad' if the shit hit the fan.

He didn't know how he was going to get her back, but he'd be damned if he left her to their care. They'd accuse her of being a part of that— that shit that happened. They'd think that she was just like his mother, and he wouldn't let her be ruined because of this. She was so close to graduating high school, of being able to separate herself from his tainted name, and now… now it was all for nothing.

"I shouldn't have been so selfish," he breathed aloud, his words catching on a sob. "I should have left her a long time ago."

He let himself cry for several more minutes before composing himself and wiping the evidence of his failure away. The glint in his eyes promised that this would not go unpunished. He would get his sister back, even if it meant taking up his gun for the first time in five years.


	3. Nightmares 3

Three days. It had been three days since the Jaeger girl was captured, and they were no closer to finding her brother than they had been before learning about her existence. It was aggravating, and the longer she remained in their custody, the less likely it seemed the brother would come out of hiding to try and rescue her.

Levi hated having to sit with his thumbs up his ass like this. Progress was finally being made on the most horrific attack in a decade, and they were glorified babysitters for a brat who doesn't exist, and unable to find a 15 year old kid with the city in the middle of a lockdown. There were soldiers scouring the streets, keeping an eye out for the boy, and the Jaeger boy's apartment - rented under the name John Ackerman - was under constant surveillance in case the boy was stupid enough to come back.

"Still no sign?" Hanji said, dropping into the chair beside him. He spared her a glance, seeing her frazzled, post-lab state, and leaned back in his chair with a groan.

"Nothing. Any luck with the sister?" he asked, and she shook her head.

"No. There are no records for her. Mikasa Jaeger doesn't exist. Her school records are under the name Mikasa Ackerman, but even those lead back to a dead end. Mikasa Ackerman is the daughter of Seiko and John Ackerman, who lived out on the outskirts of the Shingashima District. The physical address is correct, but no one has lived there for a long time. Everything's rotted and decrepit. We have watchers out there in case it's a safehouse for the two. Sounds like you've been outsmarted by a little kid," Hanji teased, a smile stretching across her face. He glared at her, sliding back from his desk and standing. He tried to not notice how she was still only a little shorter than him when seated.

"I'm going out. Call me if you find anything else about the Jaeger girl, or if you find any other useful information."

"Gotcha!" Hanji said, sliding up to his desk and turning the computer on.

"And I swear to God, if there's porn on my computer when I get back—"

"Don't worry, Short-stack, Erwin threatened to disable internet access in the building if I did that again."

"You shouldn't do that at work to begin with," Levi grumbled, slamming the door to his office closed behind him.

He sighed, straightening his uniform before striding down the hall and heading towards the parking garage.

He doubted him being out on the field would help the search, but it was better than sitting around and doing nothing.

* * *

><p>Mikasa stared at the wall across from the bed, tracing patterns along the painted brick to pass the time. She had never expected Armin to find her; she hadn't known Armin survived that day. In the midst of chaos her only focus had been escaping the insanity, and then after that she had avoided all thoughts of That Day.<p>

All she could hope was that her little brother wasn't stupid enough to try and save her. For being an intelligent young man, he had a serious overprotective streak and a hero complex. She wasn't in danger here, he was, and as long as he remained out of reach, everything would be okay.

"Mikasa, starving yourself won't get you anywhere," Armin said, coming into the room with a plate. He wasn't at 'risk' for being in the room with her, the chains around her wrists and ankles keeping her from being able to reach the door even if it had been left wide open.

"I'm not hungry," she said mildly, "but I would like some juice."

The shaking in her hands was becoming harder to hide, and she hadn't been able to take any of her medications since arriving. Armin appeared to not remember that she always took them before her meals, but she didn't blame him. It had been years since they'd seen each other, and the circumstances weren't to her benefit either.

"You're going to make yourself sick," he scolded, sitting down beside her. He held up the plastic spoon, a scoop of potatoes on it, and brought it to her mouth.

"Please eat. I don't want you to make yourself sick."

"So you can abduct me, but not starve me. Isn't that flawed logic?"

"We didn't abduct you. You were arrested. You still have rights and needs that we are required to take care of."

"So I'm obligated to eat, is that what you're saying?"

"Why are you being so difficult?!" he snarled, slamming the spoon down on the tray. It slid off the bed, splattering the contents over the floor. It went ignored as Mikasa let herself wander into the haziness of her own thoughts.

'_My sugar is too low,'_ she mused. She could hear Armin saying something, but she didn't hear as her eyes slid closed.

* * *

><p><em>For a department that focuses on security, it's not that hard to get into,<em> Eren thought, tugging the cap lower on his head. He had been watching the building for days now, memorizing and noting the different faces and uniforms that came in and out. After careful planning and consideration, he had gone with a cleaner's uniform for the sole fact that they had caps and face masks that would help hide his identity. While the face mask wouldn't cover his whole face - it was merely designed to deter breathing in fumes, not obscure the face - it would be enough to hide the infamous Jaeger face.

Hopefully.

He didn't have time to doubt himself as he came in with the laundry crew. He helped bring carts of new linens and materials in, and then broke away from the group during the gathering of dirty laundry. He had a goal, after all, and he wasn't officially on the roster. Staying in the group too long would have drawn more attention than needed. He carted a full tub of laundry with him, his equipment hidden among the folds of towels and bed sheets.

He was passing an open door when he overheard voices. Carefully, he slowed down enough to listen to what they were saying. They both sounded younger than he had expected, but that fact easily vanished under the context.

"—passed right out on him. Had to take her down to the medical wing."

"What caused it? I thought she was just being held and questioned, not… interrogated."

"Low blood sugar and anemia. She hadn't been eating either, apparently."

"Why wouldn't she eat?"

"Sasha, really, that's what you're focusing on?"

"Hey, food is amazing—"

Eren pushed on by, the squeaky wheel of the cart catching the attention of the three young soldiers in the room. He filed their appearances away in his mind for future reference, but he put on his widest smile and tried to look as sheepish as possible.

"Hi, do you have any idea where I am? I'm supposed to take these to residential, but all the halls look the same…" Eren trailed off, a hopeful tone in his voice. Two of the faces eased up, but one still regarded him with suspicion.

Well, shit. There went plan A.

"Yeah, man. I hear you. I still get lost and I've been here over a year now," a shorter man said, his hair shaved close to his scalp. He moved forward - possibly to point out the direction to go - but before he could move past him Eren reached out. He quickly pressed down on the man's neck, the body going limp in his grasp, before he picked him up and threw him at the other male, who had been reaching for a gun. The limp body knocked the other guy over onto his ass, the weapon spinning from his grip across the polished floor. It stopped at Eren's feet, and he quickly leaned down and grabbed it, aiming it at the still-standing woman, who had her own gun out as well.

"I don't want to hurt you," he said, his breathing heavy. "I just want my sister back, that's all."

"Fuck, you're the Jaeger boy," she whispered, and Eren grinned, though there was no humour on his face.

"Yeah, that's me. And I don't want to hurt anyone. I want my sister. I want to leave. I want all of you to piss off and leave us the fuck alone."

"You killed Connie—"

"He's not dead, I just knocked him out. He'll be more or less okay in no time," Eren assured. "Just take me to my sister."

"I'm not going to do a damn thing you say," she snarled. Eren sighed.

"I really don't want to shoot you, lady."

"I'll shoot you first," she promised, though her eyes wavered in their conviction. Eren let his face relax, knowing that it would make him look younger.

"Do you really want to try and see who can pull the trigger faster?"

He knew that his parents' actions left a mark on his own name, and while there wasn't any proof, the fact that he _might_ be able to was enough to have her lowering the gun.

"Fine. I'll take you to her."

"Thanks," Eren said, and he meant it.

* * *

><p>Levi's cell vibrated in his pocket, and it was with no small amount of annoyance that he answered the incoming call.<p>

"What the fuck is it?" he snapped, his eyes never leaving the dingy apartment. The voice of one of the new recruits - Kirstein, if he remembered correctly - came over the line, his voice sounding strained.

"You need to get back to base."

Levi straightened up, his eyes narrowing in suspicion.

"Explain."

"There's been a… situation. We've been breached, Corporal, and I can't get a hold of anyone."

"Jaeger?"

"Affirmative. He disabled Connie— I mean, Spring—"

"Fatal?"

"According to the brat, no. He forced Sasha to take him to his sister at gunpoint."

_A gun? _Levi wondered, knowing that getting one through security was no small feat. Levi was heading back towards his vehicle, and he asked the recruit, "Have the alarms been sounded?"

"Not yet."

"Good, leave them off. Let the boy think he has the advantage. He'll be less on his guard and less likely to kill anyone if he thinks he still has the advantage. Good work, soldier."

"Thank you, Corporal."

Levi hung up, getting into the driver's seat. He pressed the keypad, speed dialing the number of the base commander.

"Levi?" Erwin's voice asked, mussed with sleep. This was understandable, as it was nearing midnight.

"We found the other Jaeger kid."

"Do you have him in custody?" he asked, his voice much more alert now. Levi snorted.

"No, he's currently breaking into our base to try and get his sister out. I'm on route to intervene and arrest him."

"Good luck. I'll send a message on to not sound the alarm," Erwin said, and Levi was grateful he didn't have to talk him through that part. Having worked together for almost two decades did have its merits.

"As far as I understand he is armed with a loaded weapon. He has taken one of our newer recruits hostage in return for his sister."

"Do your best to end this without bloodshed," Erwin cautioned, and Levi agreed.

"He's better to us alive than dead."

* * *

><p>She wasn't prepared for this. She understood that these things happened. Hell, they've been trained on how to handle a hostage situation, but this wasn't the same. They never said what to do if the one holding you hostage was a minor. If he smiled at you kindly and said he didn't want to shoot, and just wanted his family member - also a minor - back. They didn't say what to do when they possibly killed your best friend using only one hand, and injured your comrades.<p>

They didn't teach you how to deal with a captor that radiated genuine innocence.

She knew he was still holding the gun on her. The hallways were suspiciously empty - where was everyone when she needed them?! - as they made their way down to the medical bay. She was tempted to do something - _anything - _to not feel so helpless, so unable to do anything but what her captor asked.

"Please don't make me hurt you," the boy said again, his voice deceptively gentle. "I can tell you're going to do something reckless. I don't want to shoot, honestly."

_But I will, _hung in the air unspoken but well understood. She gulped, her eyes darting for anyone who could possibly rescue her from this. Her mind was numb, her heart beating so fast she swore it was going to break out of her chest.

They reached the medical bay without incident. It was also empty, the Jaeger girl lying on the white sheets with only handcuffs around her wrists securing her to the metal frame.

"Mikasa," the boy breathed, and he moved up behind Sasha and pressed the barrel of the gun to her spine, behind her stomach. She could feel the contours of the metal weapon, and it sent a thrill of terror through her.

_This isn't real, this isn't happening, this can't be happening to me. I'm a recruit, a newbie! This only happens to those people on TV shows._ Her mind screamed at her, a bubble of hysteria trying to work its way up her throat and out of her mouth. Tears pricked the corners of her eyes, and her body was beginning to shake against her will.

"I'm sorry you had to get involved. I honestly don't want to hurt you, you didn't do anything wrong, miss," he told her. "I need you to kneel down on the ground with your back straight and your hands behind your back, please. You can get out of this uninjured if you listen, okay, sweetheart?"

She blushed at the term of endearment, but listened obediently. The hard linoleum floors were uncomfortable against her knees, but she didn't dare fidget as she felt metal clamping around her wrist. She couldn't help but flinch as she felt a hand brush at her ankle though.

"Don't worry, I'm just securing you. I don't want you to decide to play the hero. It only ends in pain," he said soothingly, and she felt the cool touch of metal as he handcuffed her wrist to her ankle. He repeated it with her other wrist, so that the chains were intercrossing at her back. There wasn't much slack, and she was forced to lean back to stop her wrists from digging into the unforgiving steel.

"There, now you're going to be okay. Someone will come and find you, and you don't have to be hurt. I'm just going to take my sister, and you won't be in trouble. You didn't have a choice in me rescuing my sister, but you made all the right choices in getting me to her. No one was hurt, and that's because you made the right decision. Good girl," he said, running a hand briefly over her hair.

"Step away from her and raise your hands in the air, or I will shoot your sister," a deep, cold voice spoke from the door, and Sasha couldn't hold her sobs back any longer.

Corporal Levi had come back. Someone was going to save her.

* * *

><p>He had thought the most difficult part of joining the army would be the combat. Having to fight against another human being and possibly take their life was the worst thing he could have thought of when it came to being a soldier.<p>

But waiting was worse. Waiting when he _knew_ his friend could die, and being told to hold his position until otherwise told. Knowing that an armed killer had his friend hostage, and was trying to break out a prisoner, and _being unable to do a fucking thing_.

It felt like that night again. That night that Hell erupted in his hometown.

And the same people were causing it to happen again.

"Fuck!" Armin snarled, slamming his hand on the table. The other recruits jumped at the noise, and they all looked at him.

"Why are we just sitting here, doing nothing?! Sasha could be killed, and we're just sitting here having a fucking tea party!"

"And what would you do?" Jean muttered, an ice pack held against his head. "Antagonize the brat and make the chance that Sasha will die a certainty instead? We could get out of this without shedding blood, and you want to risk that to get your revenge?"

Armin started to rise to his feet, but a large, firm hand pressed him back into his seat. Looking up, he felt his throat tighten.

"Well, boys, while I'm glad to see you're all gung-ho, you've forgotten to factor one thing into the situation: Eren Jaeger," Dr. Hanji Zoe, the head of the Recon and Intelligence Department, said jovially.

"And?" Armin said, a little testily, though with much more respect than before. This was his future boss, after all.

"And," she stressed, pulling a chair over and dropping into it, "Eren Jaeger is the last known connection to identified sleeper agents in the good ol' US of A. We need what he knows, and he can't tell us that if you fill him full of lead. While it _would_ resolve the situation faster, it won't help us. We'd be even worse off than we were before, and with one less source of information."

Armin closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and trying to calm his temper. He _knew_ that, but it was hard when the source of all of his nightmares and problems was in the building.

"Levi's dealing with the situation," Hanji assured, "so we should come out of this ahead. Don't doubt your commanding officers, and don't doubt your friend. I'm sure Sasha will do everything in her power to come out of this unscathed."

* * *

><p>Eren didn't flinch, despite his body's natural reaction to do so. While cursing himself for setting the gun down to secure the woman, he let his hands rise above his head and rose slowly to his feet. His heartbeat stayed steady, despite the dread building in his stomach.<p>

He had been _so close_.

"Step away from her," the man demanded, and Eren moved to step towards Mikasa, but the man cleared his throat.

"Step away from _both_ of them," he clarified, and Eren side-stepped, moving towards the voice instead.

"Now, lace your fingers behind your head and remain still. We can get out of this without any bloodshed if you cooperate," the man mocked, repeating the words Eren had told the woman. Said woman was sobbing now, her breathing growing erratic as her situation fully hit her. He felt a little bad at having to put her through that, but his sister took priority over a stranger's comfort and mental state, and he didn't regret doing what he had done.

He couldn't let himself regret it.

"You are going to remain still while I handcuff you. Then I am going to take you to a holding cell. As of right now, you have no rights. You do not have the right to remain silent. You do not have the right to an attorney, or any legal representation."

"I thought that was illegal," Eren said lightly, and kept his body lucid while the man moved toward him.

"You don't exist, so how can you have any rights?" was the response, and Eren sighed.

"I do exist. Or are you arresting a figment?"

* * *

><p>Levi moved up to the boy, who was being rather complacent compared to the actions he had taken to get this far. It was this mindset that had him ready to intervene when the boy decided to stop playing the docile captive. Levi barely had time to move as the hand whipped out towards his neck, but he dropped, sweeping his leg out and trying to knock the boy to the ground. Trying, as he failed to do so. Instead, the boy jumped back, dropping into a crouch and grabbing the discarded gun before rising back to his feet and pointing it towards Levi.<p>

"Don't fucking move," he spat, backing up to the bed where his sister was contained. "What the fuck did you do to my sister?!" His voice was deep and rough, pure anger radiating from each syllable. Levi snorted.

"She did that to herself. She refused to eat, and we didn't know she was diabetic. We stabilized her before she could kill herself. Did you encourage her to do that?—" The sound of a gunshot rang in the air, and he felt the bullet pierce his leg, going through the meaty part of his muscle and coming out the back. He hissed, clasping a hand over his leg as the boy snarled.

"Don't you _dare_ think I would ever hurt my sister, you god damn son of a—"

"Chill, kid, and put the fucking gun away. I thought you didn't want any bloodshed."

"Then let us go!" he cried, his voice taking on a slightly hysterical waver. "I just want to take my sister home, and be fucking done with all of this bullshit. Let us live in peace!"

"And if I let you go, is peace what we will get? Or will you awaken the rest of the sleepers that your parents never got to?"

The Jaeger boy paled, before he gritted his teeth and snarled, his hand clenching tight on the gun.

"I am not my mother. Don't you _ever fucking—_"

"Eren?" a weak voice asked, the soft tone making the boy spin around and out of his range. Levi took this chance to rise unsteadily, his leg radiating agony as he put weight on it that it really _didn't_ want to support. He readjusted the grip on his gun, and slid the small tranquilizer out of his holster.

This was getting too dangerous. Plan B it was.

"Mikasa, are you okay?" the boy asked, his voice gentling. "What the fuck happened?"

"I ran out of juice," she replied, her throat raspy and dry.

"Why the fuck didn't you eat? You can't do that, we've talked—"

"Drugs."

"Fuck the drugs! Let them drug you if it means you're not skipping meals! Do you want to die?"

"Why not? It'd be nice, wouldn't it? To sleep forever?" she said dreamily, and Levi wondered how lucid she was at the moment. The conversation had been enough time for Levi to prep the tranq though, and he didn't hesitate as he aimed and shot.

The boy didn't have enough time to turn around before the needle struck his shoulder, and the gun discharged one last time before he dropped limply to the floor.

* * *

><p>The only sound left in the room was Sasha's hysterical weeping.<p>

"You need to calm down and breathe," he told her, kneeling in front of her and placing a hand on each side of her face, forcing her to look at him. "You're going to make yourself pass out or be sick. We're going to get these off of you, but you need to stay with me and calm down. Breathe in, and out, and in," he said slowly, soothingly, and Sasha gasped, trying to listen.

She was okay. She was going to live. They saved her, someone came for her.

Her thoughts spiraled right back down, causing her to hyperventilate. Levi's eyes flickered between both of hers, and he asked her softly, "Would you like to be sedated?"

Sasha managed to nod her consent, and she barely registered the needle piercing her skin. As she slumped against Levi, she noticed that she wasn't going to sleep.

"It's not going to make you go to sleep. You will be conscious, but calm." She felt a pull on her ankles and wrists before the tension in her slacked, and hands helped her to lie flat on her stomach, her arms being pulled out to the sides. A pillow was placed under her head, and a blanket was draped over her, and she started to giggle.

"I'm being put to bed. Time to sleep," she drawled, her southern accent coming out stronger without her conscious efforts to constantly suppress it. Levi shook his head, pushing himself slowly to his feet and turning to walk towards the prone legs she could see out of the corner of her eye.

She was safe. The corporal came to save her.

* * *

><p>Eren woke up in a cell. He remembered the events of earlier, but there wasn't much he could do. He had fucked up, and now instead of him and Mikasa running to freedom, they were both prisoners. He didn't move, knowing that there would be people watching him, and tried to think of what he was going to do now.<p>

He didn't have his gun anymore, they would have searched him and took any other tools or weapons away, and they weren't going to give him anything that would help him in here. There wasn't much he could do at this point, and he felt frustrated enough to scream.

But he didn't. He'd done enough stupid things for one day. Might as well save it for tomorrow. They had caught him, and they weren't going to listen to him. They wouldn't believe that he hadn't helped his parents, and that he hadn't known what was going to happen, that he had tried to stop her—

_Don't think about that right now, _he reprimanded himself, and he slowly moved his limbs. They felt heavy, as if they were strapped to the surface below him, and it took several more tugs to realize that was exactly what they were.

No simple handcuffs for him, it seemed. They had him completely immobile, and the pressure in his bladder probably wouldn't be enough of a reason for them to let him up. He wondered how they planned for him to eat, but then wondered if eating should be a priority to him given his stupidity.

Why had he shot? Why did he shoot him? He wondered if that decision would seal his fate, would never allow him to gain the freedom he so desired. To shed his parents' shadow and become a name in and of himself. To be able to settle down with his sister and fucking live.

But he'd shot the man who had tried to stop him, and now he was being held captive.

"I know you're awake," the deep voice said, and Eren blinked his eyes opened, not bothering to fake anything at this point.

"Why does that matter," he asked dully, staring up at the cracked ceiling. It hadn't been painted in a while, and it was obvious by the rings of age forming in the paint. The man stepped into his line of vision and leaned down over, and Eren felt himself tensing automatically.

He felt helpless lying here, bound and held against his will, and the man had power over him. And they both knew it.

"Why did you come here? the man said quietly, his voice steel. Eren didn't answer, and the man sighed.

"I told you, you don't have the right to remain silent."

"Why does it matter?" Eren said again, and he let his head tilt to the side. Or, he tried. There was a strap across his forehead. "I'm never getting out. Isn't that enough for you?"

"No. You managed to get in. That will need to be addressed. You are also the son of Grisha and Carla Jaeger, and that will be addressed as well. You will tell us what you know, and then we can talk about your options from there."

"Will it be a firing squad or lethal injection?" Eren asked, and the man's lips thinned.

"You seem to assume your only options lead to death. That says a lot about how your parents raised you."

"I broke into a military base, injured your people, took one hostage, and then shot you. You think I'm going to get out of this alive?" Eren responded, though he couldn't bring any of the heat he could feel in his chest out in his words. He was too tired, too worn out.

"Depends. The only people who know that happened are here on the base right now. If you prove to be more of use to us alive than dead, I'm sure some things can be… forgotten, or confused."

"I know your kind," Eren replied. "It doesn't matter what you say, you'll do whatever you want in the end."

* * *

><p>Mikasa sat up in the bed, a pillow propped behind her. She was still chained securely to the bed, but she wasn't lying flat on her back anymore. A nurse had come and washed her hair and body, putting her into a clean slip and attaching a new IV line to her. A plaster had been put across her cheek, and her hair had been trimmed to hide the hair the bullet had shaved off.<p>

She was lucky it hadn't killed her. A centimeter closer, and she wouldn't be here to wonder what was going to happen now.

"Will you eat something voluntarily?" the blonde nurse asked, and Mikasa didn't answer. With a sigh, the girl set the tray down, going over to a drawer. She knew from experience by now that those were where they kept the bags with nutrients in them, the ones they forced into her when she refused the food.

They weren't going to make the same mistake twice. This time, they knew better.

"I wish you'd eat something. Your blood sugars were really low, and you almost killed yourself," the nurse said, and Mikasa glared at her.

"Why do you care? I'm a prisoner here, not a guest."

"Yes, but that doesn't mean you are not my patient," she replied with a firm tone. "You could be the second coming of Hitler, and as long as you were my patient I'd do all I could to keep you healthy and whole for your time under my care."

Mikasa blinked, leaning back on the bed and resuming her game of 'count the dots' on the far wall. She had lost count, and it was all she could do to keep her attention off the blonde who was too kind for her own good.

It would get her killed, of that Mikasa was certain.

"How is my stubborn patient?" a woman asked, coming into the room. The large, white lab coat was splattered with something Mikasa couldn't identify, and the blonde girl smiled brightly.

"I'm just about to attach an IV and give her some insulin," she said cheerfully, and the woman gave a gentle grin.

"Good, though you shouldn't refuse solid food. Nutrients can only do so much to keep you going, especially with the condition you're in. Suicidal or not, you can do that on your own time. As long as you're in my ward, you're leaving it alive, understood?"

Mikasa ignored them, counting the dots once more. She wanted Eren.


	4. Lucid Dreams

"Now what?" Hanji asked, leaning next to the window that showed the interrogation room. The Jaeger boy was handcuffed to the sole chair, and he didn't seem to be perturbed by being left alone and chained. He was slouched in the chair - as much as the chains would allow him to be, at least - and his chin was resting on his chest, his eyes closed. To Levi, the kid looked damn near asleep.

"Now, we find out how much he knows. I very much doubt his parents left him in the dark."

Hanji nodded. Levi straightened his jacket, left the observation room, and a few moments later, stepped through the door into the interrogation room.

"Eren Jaeger, fifteen years old, only known child of Carla and Grisha Jaeger. So, any defense for yourself?"

"I'm not… I did nothing wrong," Eren said, not even lifting his head. His words came out low and dull, his eyes not opening. "I didn't do anything wrong."

"You expect me to believe that?"

"Of course not. Why would you? I'm _their_ child, I _must_ be involved, isn't that right?" the boy said, a trace of bitterness lacing his words. Levi raised an eyebrow, leaning against the table.

"Well, considering your actions yesterday, I need more than your word."

"I was only getting my sister. I had no intention of hurting anyone."

"So you say. Yet, here I stand with an extra hole or two in my leg, and your sister isn't much better off after your stunt."

"…What?" _That_ got the boy's attention, his eyes opening and his head shooting up to look at Levi. He let his head tilt to the side just a bit, not enough to give anything away, but enough to keep the boy's attention.

"When you were having your fit, you pulled the trigger one more time, striking your 'sister.' That doesn't look good for your claims, now, does it?"

Eren stared at him with wide eyes, a look of horror and fear forming on his face.

"You're lying," he whispered, his voice rough. "You fucking liar."

Levi pulled a picture out of the manila folder tucked under his arm, placing it on the table. The Jaeger girl's sleeping face, the red line covering her left cheek and a small inverted circle missing from her ear were all clearly visible. While Levi knew that the cheek had been stitched and the ear repaired to the best of the doctors' abilities by now, the wound had been quite disturbing to look at prior. That was the picture he laid down on the table, watching the boy pale and then squeeze his eyes shut.

Then the phone rang.

If Levi thought Eren looked sick before, it was nothing compared to how he looked after the single phone on the table started to ring. His eyes flew back open, though he wasn't looking at the picture or anything else in particular. His body stopped shaking, his hands clenching on the armrests and his chest stilling as he held his breath.

The phone rang again.

He started to shake, just a little. It started in his legs to begin with, but before the phone could ring again Levi picked it up, and Eren's gaze focused on it.

How odd.

"What is it?" Levi snapped, and Erwin's voice came over the line.

"Take him back to his cell, we have a situation."

"I'm busy, Smith," he snapped, but Erwin's tone held no room for reasoning.

"Private Braus is awake, and she keeps calling for you."

"Affirmative," he sighed, setting the phone back into the cradle and looking over at the pale, sweaty child.

"Lucky for you, we're done for today."

* * *

><p>Armin felt sick. Sasha had woken up, but she was inconsolable. The doctors didn't want to sedate her again, but she refused to let anyone near her, crying out for the corporal.<p>

Commander Erwin had come to ask her questions, and it was after she started to try and rip her IVs out that he called for Levi to come join them.

"What _happened_ to her?" Jean whispered next to him, watching as Sasha thrashed under the hold of a couple male interns. Connie lay in the bed to her left, still unconscious. They had been reassured that he wasn't at risk of dying, and that he should be waking up any time now. That had been almost a day ago.

"We don't know. But she was a hostage, that couldn't have been easy," Armin replied lowly, rage boiling in his stomach. Those damn _Jaegers_ kept coming and ruining people's lives. When Corporal Levi came into the infirmary he didn't even wait for instructions before walking up next to Sashsa, pulling the empty chair next to her bed closer and reaching a hand out to grasp one of hers.

"It's okay, Private, you're safe," he said lowly, and her sobbing hitched, her eyes searching around until they landed on their joined hands. They traced a trail up the corporal's arm until she saw his face, and then she started crying again.

"I thought it was a dream and that you didn't come— I thought I was going to die—"

"You're _safe_," he repeated firmly, squeezing her hand. She hiccupped, her puffy, red-rimmed eyes focusing more and taking in the room. "You're not in danger. Your actions stopped a lot of people from getting killed. I know that doesn't make it better, but you are safe now. He can't hurt you."

"Someone was holding me down, who—?"

"You were going to injure yourself in your panic. It wasn't him, it was a couple of interns."

"I still hear him in my head. Calling me… telling me…"

"I know," Levi repeated, and Armin felt nauseous.

'_What had Eren done?'_

* * *

><p>He had found her in the closet, her hands covering her ears and tears falling down her face.<p>

"Mikasa, come on. _Hurry_," Eren urged, reaching out and grabbing her arm, tugging harshly. There wasn't time to be gentle. He didn't know what to do at this point. Mom was dead and he couldn't get a hold of Dad. He didn't know what to do, but he knew they couldn't stay _there_.

"Come on," he continued, helping her rise to her feet. Her large, gray eyes were filled with tears, staring at him with a remembered horror that he wished she didn't have to feel again.

"What's happening?" she asked, her throat clogged with tears and mucus. He pulled her out of the closet, walking backward and towards the kitchen.

It was best to not go out the front door.

"I don't know. I don't know what's going on. But we need to go _now_," he pressed, the urgency rising. He could still hear gunfire, could still hear the screaming. The stench of blood was strong, and he couldn't dismiss the feeling of unforgiving metal against his spine.

"What about your mom, your dad?" she asked, and Eren shook his head.

"Don't worry about it, we'll deal with that later," he repeated, his mother's smiling, proud face flashing in his mind's eye for a brief moment before he pushed it aside.

He made sure as they passed the hallway that Mikasa didn't look around, didn't look into the living room. Didn't see the bodies that littered the floor, didn't see the blood they could smell so strongly.

He made sure that she didn't pay attention to the trail of blood that smeared the floor and wall, didn't see the pale hand sticking out from under the table.

They got out of the house and stood in the backyard. They had no bags, no clothing, no possessions. They didn't have time to get them. The sounds of Hell still reigned around them, and Eren only knew one thing.

Run.

So he took his sister's hand, lacing his fingers with hers. He led them out of the backyard, through the neighbours' yards, until they emerged out onto a road two blocks away. They kept running, and when they finally stopped, they were cold, tired, and lost.

But it was better than where they had been.

"What are we going to do?" Mikasa asked quietly, and Eren gave her a look of determination.

"We're going to survive. We're going to kill them all."

"Who?"

"I don't know. Whoever is behind this. They won't get away with it. I'll kill them, Mikasa," he promised. "I'll kill them all."

Eren woke up, tears blurring his eyes.

"_Mom,_" he moaned into the dark, ignoring the shuffling of his guards outside the room.

* * *

><p>"How are you related to the Jaegers?" the man sitting across from her asked. Mikasa stared at the table, her mouth pressed into a thin line.<p>

It had been three days since they let her leave the infirmary. They were injecting her with insulin regularly now, though she still refused any of their meals. A foam cup of juice has started coming with her meals, however, and she drank it every time.

It tasted off though. She figured they were either drugging her or slipping her nutrients.

"What is your real name?" the man asked again, and again, Mikasa didn't answer.

She hasn't seen her brother since that one time in the infirmary. She still has bandages on the side of her face, so she hasn't seen what the bullet did to her. A chunk of her hair was missing from the side of her head, and her hair hung unevenly in her vision. It blocked her view of the man across the table from her, a curtain of black hiding her from the world. She stared down at the table, able to see her restraints in her peripheral vision, and the dull grey clothing they gave her to wear upon being released from the infirmary.

"Did the Jaegers hurt you? Threaten you?" the man asked again, and Mikasa closed her eyes.

"I want my brother," she said quietly. The man sighed.

"I can't let you see him. You're a suicide risk and he's too dangerous to leave with you. If you cooperate with us, I can arrange a meeting between you."

"I want my brother."

"I want you to answer my questions."

"I want my brother."

"Do you know who gave orders to Carla and Grisha Jaeger?"

"I want my brother."

"Do you know who killed Carla and Grisha Jaeger?"

"I want my brother."

"Did Grisha and Carla tell you anything about the sleeper cell?"

"I want my brother."

* * *

><p>Eren was chained to the chair again. He took one breath in, one breath out, and tried to stay relaxed and placid. But his eyes were focused on the off-white telephone sitting on the table.<p>

No one had come in the room since they brought him here. But the telephone has rang four times so far.

It was the fifth time it rang that the man who had stopped him from rescuing Mikasa entered the room again. 'Corporal' was all Eren knew him as, and to be honest, he didn't care to know much more. He ignored the ringing phone, and instead leaned against the wall behind the table, silently watching Eren.

Eren was tense again, the calm he had tried to maintain breaking as the phone gave yet another ring. It seemed to never end, and Eren felt sick. He _knew_ it was stupid, but he despised phones. He hated the sound it made as it rattled on the table, wanting someone to pick it up and listen to the person hidden away on the other end of the line. He hated the disgusting colour, the aged and cracked plastic appearance that was so much like the one that had been on their wall—

The phone stopped ringing, and the man spoke.

"My name is Corporal Levi. You can call me _'Sir.'_ If you cooperate with me, I can make your stay here a lot more enjoyable. If you fight me, it will only get worse. It's up to you to make your time here either comfortable or distressing. I honestly don't give a shit about what you choose, but it's your choice in the end."

"I want to see my sister," Eren said quietly, his voice tense. His eyes wouldn't leave the phone, even though he could see Levi moving in the background.

"And you can earn that, if you help us and be a good boy."

"_You're such a good boy, Eren," Mom said with a smile. That smile never left her face, even as the bullet pierced the front of her skull, and blood—_

The phone rang again.

Eren pushed off the ground with his feet, his hands on the arms of the chair helping to brace him as it tipped back. He lifted his foot above the surface of the table and struck out. The bottom of his foot connected with the cheap plastic contraption, sending it flying from the surface with enough force to strike the one-way mirror behind Levi, shattering both the glass and the phone.

Eren let the chair fall backward, ignoring the pain of his head hitting the linoleum. It was quiet, except for his harsh breathing.

"Impressive," was all he heard as he closed his eyes.

_Fuck._

* * *

><p>He could tell the kid hadn't knocked himself out, even if he wasn't moving and had his eyes closed. His breaths were too controlled to believe that was the case. He glanced at the mess behind him, the shattered panel of treated glass and the remains of the cheap telephone they had salvaged from the boy's apartment.<p>

Their plan hadn't quite gone as they'd expected.

Levi had noticed the boy's reaction to the telephone the last time he had been in here, and after that he and Erwin had devised this ruse. He hadn't expected the boy to manage to pull off that move, which had been a lack of foresight on his part. His arms had been restrained - naturally - but he hadn't thought about the boy's legs.

He had underestimated the brat.

He stepped over the shards of glass carefully, crouching down near the boy's head. He kept his voice low and in control, refusing to let the kid see how much his actions had unsettled him.

_How had he not thought about restraining his feet?_

"I think we're done for today. You keep acting like this, and you won't get to see your sister, Eren Jaeger," Levi said lowly, watching the boy's face for a reaction.

Nothing. Just slow, calm, steady breaths. Too slow, too calm, too steady. The boy was trying to get control of himself again. Neither of them had meant to slip up.

Levi knew he wouldn't underestimate the boy again, that was for certain.

"Take him back to his cell," Levi said, raising his voice. He stepped out of the room, pinching the bridge of his nose. Striding down the hallway, he felt more than saw Erwin step up beside him, matching his pace.

"That was unexpected," Erwin noted, and Levi snorted.

"Understatement," Levi muttered. "That wasn't supposed to happen."

"I guess he really dislikes the phone."

"I don't blame him, that piece of shit isn't worth the plastic it was made from," Levi muttered, running a hand through his hair. "Get someone to clean that shit up and replace the window, I'm not working with him again until it's finished."

"Yes, _Sir_," Erwin mocked, and Levi sniffed disdainfully.

"Bastard."


	5. Lucid Dreams 2

"We're getting nowhere with them."

The room was silent, the statement sinking into the minds of those in attendance. Ewrin sat off to the side, his eyes unfocused. Hanji was frowning, her elbows planted on the table and her chin resting on her interlaced fingers. Her lover, Moblit, was resting his own chin on a fist, his other hand a warm reassurance on the crook of Hanji's arm. Petra was fiddling with a pen, chewing her lower lip thoughtfully. Mike was still, his arms crossed and his back stiff and straight as always. Levi was pacing a strip of floor in front of the table, his hands fisted as he made the short circuit back and forth.

"This is the closest we've come to gaining ground in _years_, and we're being held back by two snot-nosed _brats_," he snarled. No one spoke.

"What if…" Petra spoke up, flinching as Levi's attention fell on her. His expression gentled, and this gave her the courage to continue. "What if we're approaching this wrong?"

"Keep going, Lieutenant," Erwin encouraged, and Petra let her eyes focus on the table to stop her from losing her nerve. Levi watched her take a deep breath, and he tried to ignore the empty spaces beside her that existed only in his head. He tore his gaze from her lone figure, instead staring at the wall behind her.

"We're treating them as accomplices to Carla and Grisha Jaeger," Petra said quietly. "But you keep saying it yourself, they're _kids_. I… I have a hard time believing they were rallying for their parents' cause. They didn't stay to fight it out with the military like the other agents. They _fled_. They tried to stay out of sight for years, and tried their best to vanish. They haven't been out causing chaos and havoc. They lost their childhood, and we're treating them like hardened criminals. They're _kids_. Why don't we treat them like what they are?"

"They're the kids of highly-trained terrorists, Petra. They're not your average, run-of-the-mill teenagers."

"Of course not, but that doesn't mean they were in league with their parents!" she snapped. "They might have what we need, but how do _they_ feel about what happened?! Why did they flee?!"

Her words rang around the room, and she flushed darkly, ducking her face and covering her reddened cheeks with her hands.

"You have a good point. While they might have been trained, their actions aren't consistent with their parents. We _know_ that the Jaegers were told to rise up and start their work, but they were put down. First was Carla, then Grisha. Both were eliminated in the same fashion, though at different times and different places. No one has come forward and claimed the glory of doing so. The fact that a third group might be out there, hunting the Jaegers, is still very likely. This other group might not be aligned with our cause," Hanji spoke up, raising her head to look at everyone.

"We need to treat them like witnesses, not accomplices. They are only children, after all, and who knows what they've overheard, what they've discovered? Who knows what they've learned? We might even find out how Mikasa Jaeger joined the family, since she's not genetically related."

At the confused faces, Hanji flipped open another folder, pulling out some sheets of paper.

"I ran a blood test on both of them, and they share no DNA markers. While Eren does share DNA markers with the blood samples we have on file for Carla and Grisha Jaeger, the girl, Mikasa, doesn't match any of the Jaeger samples."

"Why is she with the family then? Could it have been…?"

"Kidnapping? Possibly. It's hard to be sure of anything. Mikasa doesn't act like a girl taken against her will."

"Unless she doesn't remember being taken," Moblit pointed out to his lover, and she smiled sweetly.

"Of course. There is that. But still. She would have realized by now that she doesn't look like any of the Jaeger family. She's distinctly Asian, whereas the Jaegers have strong German roots, and on the mother's side there is a strong vein of Turkish descent."

"Sitting here thinking about it won't get us answers. Those two brats down in holding _can_, so what are we wasting time here for?"

"Lieutenant Ral, you're to oversee the interrogations. You will work directly with Corporal Levi in whatever manner he requests. As for any of our soldiers who might hold personal grudges against the Jaeger children, they are not to be allowed access to the two kids. I don't want any violence or harassment against them; that could destroy any progress we make. As far as what is and is not allowed in regards to their stay with us, Corporal Levi will oversee any decisions. Food, lodging, punishment, rewards, all are at your discretion, Levi."

Levi saluted Erwin, before turning and striding from the conference room, Petra hurriedly getting to her feet and rushing after him, giving a hasty salute to the others in the room before following after her new commanding officer.

"Corporal Levi, sir?" she asked, her pace matching his as she fell in line behind him. He didn't say anything, but glanced back at her to let her know he was listening.

"What… What exactly am I supposed to do? I don't understand…"

"You will be my temperance. Your job is to make them comfortable, relaxed, and more willing to work with us. You are also going to make sure I don't go too far out of line. If you believe I am overstepping my boundaries in regards to their treatment, you are to point it out to me."

"Am I qualified for that, sir?" she asked, her voice rising in horrified shock.

"If not you, then who? You see them as innocent children, so you're to make sure that I treat them as such. I work with terrorists and hardened war criminals, Lieutenant Ral, not _brats_."

She gave a squeak, and any other questions were left unasked as Levi threw open the door to the girl's cell. She was lying on the bed, her food untouched as usual, but the Styrofoam cup was empty.

"Get up," Levi snapped, and to her credit the girl didn't jump. She blinked lazily, her eyes drifting over to him. It was something he had grown used to, her lack of responses during interrogations a familiar routine between them now.

"If you _don't_ want to see your brother…"

She rose to her feet, drawing the blanket around her as she stood. It brushed against the ground behind her feet, and her eyes finally had a spark of life showing in them.

"Take me to him," she demanded, and he raised an eyebrow.

"For someone who's being allowed to see their sibling against protocol, you sure sound demanding," he drawled, and she grit her teeth.

"I want my brother!" she snapped.

"And I'm going to let you visit with him. I can change my mind if you want to be a spoiled brat about it," he pointed out, and she clamped her mouth shut, a huff of breath leaving her in haste.

"Now come on, and stop being a brat," he ordered, and turned to walk out of the room. Petra took the rear, keeping an eye on their prisoner, witness, whatever, as they made their way down to the end of the hall where the boy was being temporarily held.

"You can't meet alone, not at this time, but you can remain in each other's company for the rest of the evening. Your further cooperation will allow more visitations. Any behaviour that I deem unacceptable will be met with the loss of visitation privileges, and I don't give a shit which one of you decides to act up. So keep that in mind when we meet tomorrow, understood?" Levi told her as he unlocked the door to the boy's cell.

The door slid open, and for a moment he didn't see the kid anywhere in the room. But the blanket and pillow were missing from the bed, and he could see a blanket balled up under the steel frame.

"Hey, brat, you have a guest."

"Go the fuck away," the muffled voice replied, confirming the location of the fifteen-year-old.

"I guess if you don't want to see your sister, we can try again another time…"

The frame shifted as a messy, red-eyed face peered out from under the bed.

"'Kasa?" he asked, his voice hopeful. Levi crinkled his nose at the tone.

Seriously, these two had a majorly unhealthy sibling complex.

"Eren, why are you under the bed?" the girl asked, stepping into the room. Levi didn't stop her, though he moved into the room after her. Petra spoke softly to the two guards outside the cell before she closed the door quietly, moving to stand beside Levi.

"Why are—"

"This is all they've asked for since we captured them. I need to give them something to start with, and I'm not looking forward to more… meetings where this is all they ask for."

"You're using them against each other, Corporal," she said quietly. He hummed in response, watching as the girl - Mikasa, Levi forced himself to acknowledge, since he really should start using their names - crouched beside the bed to see her brother - see _Eren_ - easier.

"This might not be the best route," Petra continued, hesitance heavily lacing her tone. He knew she felt out of depth with her new responsibility, and he felt a surge of pride for her stepping up to fulfill it regardless.

"It might not be. But for now that's all I have to work with. They're kids. I will treat them as such. As they earn my confidence and respect, they will earn more privileges. I have no reason to believe that they're not involved except your word, Lieutenant, so they need to prove to me that I should reconsider."

"Understood, sir."

"Don't doubt your instincts, Lieutenant," he told her. "That, above all, will serve you better than any regulation or rulebook that you will be handed. If your gut is telling you something, one of your senses is picking up a potential danger. Don't ignore that, and you will get far."

"Yes, sir," she replied, and they silent as they watched the kids interact. Eren had come out from under the bed, though he was wrapped up in sheets as well. Mikasa was lying on top of the bed, Eren's head cradled in her lap as she smoothed his hair out and spoke quietly to him.

* * *

><p>"There's nothing to worry about. They're making sure I take my medications, and I'm pretty sure my juice is laced with nutrient boosters. I don't need to eat the food."<p>

"Yes, you do, Mikasa," Eren said stubbornly. "I won't have you getting sick and being unable to visit again, okay? I don't want you to spend the rest of your life on an IV!" he hissed, his fingers digging into the loose material of her pants. She sighed, carding her fingers through his hair soothingly.

"I will try to do better."

"Good," he said, nuzzling her leg contentedly. He tried to ignore the two officers watching them, instead pulling the blanket higher. "Why are they letting you see me?"

"I don't know. Something changed, and I don't know what."

"I… might have lost it earlier," Eren admitted, and Mikasa's hand stilled.

"Eren," she said, her voice growing hard and sharp. Eren flinched, his fists tightening on her pants even more. "What did you do?"

"I broke their mirror, and a phone, and might have given myself a small concussion," he admitted, and she hissed lowly under her breath, her fingers moving to look for an injury under his head of hair. Her touch was no longer soothing, but probing, and he flinched as she pressed against the tender part of his skull.

"Why did you do that?" she asked, her voice giving no room to _not_ answer.

"I… the phone. It kept _ringing_, and it wouldn't' stop, and I wanted to see you and make sure you were okay but the fucking _phone wouldn't stop ringing—"_

"Shhh," she soothed, running her hand down his shoulder and arm, pulling him closer as he buried his face in her stomach. It was a familiar position for both of them, and it was easier to pretend they weren't being watched as Mikasa comforted Eren. "It's okay. It's going to be okay."

"How?!" he snarled, his voice rising. "How is any of this okay? I shouldn't have let you go to school, we could have stayed hidden better, and Hannes—"

"Hannes couldn't do shit for us," Mikasa reminded him. "He was running hot as well for getting us out of Shingashina. For all we know, he's dead now. Going missing from school would have been too suspicious. You never went to school, Eren, but _I_ did. We talked about this before. We did everything we could."

"I'm scared," he admitted, and she buried her face in his hair, planting a gentle kiss.

"So am I," she replied. "But we're going to do everything we can to get out. Understand? Even if that means working with them. You didn't have anything to do with what Carla did that day. You didn't get involved. You _ran_ from it instead, Eren. That has to count for something. If we can prove that we're not… little terrorists in training or whatever they believe…"

"We're not safe, though."

"We haven't been safe since your mother decided to try and take over the United States," she reminded him, and he sighed.

"Fine. I'll play nice. But _you_ will too. And you'll fucking eat your dinner."

"Yes, little brother."

"Time's up," the man said from his place against the wall, and the two sighed, detangling from each other. Eren felt Mikasa press a kiss against the side of his face, her voice whispering softly in his ear.

"See you soon. And _behave_."

He watched her go, his heart constricting as they escorted her from his cell. The two guards he had grown used to being outside of his room - having seen them each time he entered and left - closed the door behind them, and as soon as the door was sealed he let himself fall over onto his mattress, drawing the blanket over his head.

"What do I do now, Mom?" he asked aloud to the empty room.

No one answered him.

* * *

><p>"That… went rather well," Petra said to Levi after they locked Mikasa back in her own cell. There had been less struggling, and he'd noticed her move over to her tray of food, picking it up with a look of distaste before he closed the door, blocking his sight of her.<p>

"I hope to garner more cooperation on their end, as well as observe how codependent they are with each other," he replied, locking the door and giving a nod to the two guards beside it.

"If she asks for more food, give it to her. She is to have access to food at any time," he told them, and they replied to confirm the orders.

The next day once again had Eren sitting in a chair in an interrogation room, but this time the lack of chains was noticeable. He was also given breakfast, and Levi was seated across from him with his own meal. Petra stood against the wall, holding a mug of coffee and nothing else.

"I've been persuaded to treat you as a witness versus a suspect. Depending on your responses and behaviour, I will alter your stay here. If you cooperate and provide us with what we ask, I will make your situation a much more enjoyable experience. If you fight me and make it difficult to get my job done, or you cause any more disturbances, your stay here will get a lost worse."

At Eren's nod, Levi continued.

"I expect you to be honest. If you don't know something, don't fucking pretend you do. But if you _do_ know something, don't fucking pretend that you don't. Understand?"

"Why did you let me see my sister?"

"She is your leverage. She is your reward. She was already told the same thing. If one of you decides to start shit, you lost visiting privileges. I expect you two to be on your best behaviour. Now, I'm going to start with a simple list. First question. Your real name."

"Eren Jaeger."

"Your parents' names that you know of. Real and fake, if you have them."

"Carla and Grisha Jaeger. I don't know my mom's maiden name."

"Parents' occupations."

"My mom didn't work. My dad was a surgeon at Trost Memorial Hospital."

"Your school?"

"I was homeschooled."

"Any extended family?"

Eren paused here, his teeth gritting as his hands fisted around his cup. The Styrofoam broke under his grasp, and the remaining coffee inside of it spilled onto the table. He gasped, his anger rapidly fading as he tried toweling it up with his napkin.

"I… I don't know. I… I can't…"

"Breathe, kid."

"Sorry. I… It makes me… I don't…"

"Moving on, then. We'll talk about it later."

This continued. If Eren didn't want to answer a question right away, Levi would move on. He marked those questions that Eren had strong reactions to on his list, and at the end Levi had the guards take Eren back to his quarters.

He let out a slow breath as he finished scribbling notes on his pad, leaving for the observation room where Hanji was waiting, bouncing in her seat.

"Did you see his face? There's so much to learn from him! The amount of training he would have needed to be able to hold himself in such control even when he wanted to rage—"

"That's fine. I want your notes to compare with mine. Then I need someone to come fucking clean that table off before I meet with the girl."

"Yes, sir!" she teased, handing over her own clipboard. He slipped his own paper onto it and stalked out of the room, intent on showering for no less than twenty minutes.

The girl's interview went much smoother than her brother's had. She knew a lot less than Eren did about the Jaeger home, and he made his own personal notes after she had been returned to her own quarters.

"So?" Hanji asked, coming back from her lunch break. Levi had eaten his lunch with the— Mikasa. She wasn't a Jaeger, just like Hanji had said.

"I have a feeling Eren holds the key to what we need. His… _interpretation _of his childhood is much different than Mikasa's account."

"Really?" Hanji asked, and Levi handed over the clipboard. She skimmed over the pages, humming and making other noises of exclamation before letting the pages fall to rest against the wooden slab.

"How fascinating! How can two kids, raised by the same people, have such a different views of their life together?"

"Because one can see what the other cannot, and that's where we'll be able to determine our next step."

* * *

><p>Eren was taken to visit Mikasa in her cell this time, and they curled up against each other again, soaking in the familiarity and comfort that the other provided. They hadn't been apart this long since they met, and it was draining on both of them. Mikasa looked like she wasn't sleeping well again, and Eren looked no better.<p>

"I don't like this," Eren muttered, tugging his blanket over his head. Mikasa hummed, letting her fingers tap out a pattern on his arm. It wasn't anything in particular, the beats not adding up to any words or letters that he could understand, so he stopped focusing on them and instead focused on his sister's heartbeat.

"If it gets us out of here sooner, I'd rather you be unsatisfied with how it's going and instead work more on not getting yourself in trouble," she told him seriously.

"Have you been eating?"

"Yes, I have," she replied. "I ate all of my meals. I ate lunch with… Levi?"

"Yeah, I think that's his name."

"You're shit with names," she reminded him, and he laughed lightly, the mood lifting for a brief moment at the familiar joke.

"I only got your name wrong once."

"Once was enough. Really, do I look like a Jackman to you?"

"Well, if you want me to be honest…"

She laughed, and the sound brought a smile to Eren's face. For one moment, he could pretend everything was going to be okay.


	6. Lucid Dreams 3

"You're not going to like today," Levi said as he set Eren's plate of food down on the table. Eren glanced up, confusion on his face. He had been woken up later than usual, and the man seemed to have already eaten since he had no food for himself. Eren hesitantly started eating his own meal, watching Levi closely as he pulled out files and sheets, arranging them on the table.

"I let you pass on these questions yesterday, but today I need the answers to the best of your ability. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir," he replied, absently drawing his legs up onto the chair and hugging them. His fork was still in his hand, the prongs pressing into his arm as he squeezed his knees closer in comfort. The man gave a little sigh before sliding one of the sheets towards Eren.

"If you have a hard time saying it aloud, write it down. Whatever works best. We're not going to tackle them all today."

Eren nodded, not moving. Levi started his questioning.

"So, extended family. You had a hard time answering this one. Can you try to explain why?"

"I… I don't have…?" Eren started, hesitantly, feeling bile rising in his throat. "I don't think I have any extended family."

"Then why the strong reaction?"

"I… That day… He said he was my uncle, but… Was he?"

Levi paused in his writing, his eyes glancing up to look at Eren. He felt suddenly detached from his surroundings, and Eren latched onto that feeling, the words coming easier. This was familiar. He could work with this.

"He wanted to talk to Mom, but she was busy. You know, because we had a dinner party? So I wasn't going to bug her. She gets really annoyed when you bug her when she's busy. But he told me she'd make an exception for him. That he was her favourite brother, and when I told her that, she told me to keep him busy until she was done. 'Time is Money,' and all that. He said the same thing to me too."

"What did he look like?"

"I don't know. I didn't see him. He called on the landline."

"Was his voice deep? Young? Old?"

"It was… higher pitched. I don't know. It's hard… it was definitely a male's voice though?"

"Did he tell you anything else, besides that he was your mother's brother?" Levi asked, and Eren shrugged.

"Not really? He mostly asked me questions. He did say that our family was mad when Mom and Dad got married, and that's why they stopped talking to us. But I don't know if that's true…"

"Understandable. What did you talk about?"

Eren kept talking, holding onto that detached feeling as he answered Levi's questions.

"Mainly he asked me about what I did for fun, how I enjoyed school, if I went anywhere interesting recently… Just… normal things. I didn't even think that… that he could make Mom—"

When the redheaded woman who tended to follow Levi around came into the room, Eren stopped talking, burying his face into his knees and rocking back and forth silently, his eyes squeezed shut against the world.

"Eren?" she asked, crouching down by him, placing an arm lightly on his shoulder. He shuddered, drawing his legs tighter to his chest. It was quiet for a few moments, before her gentle voice spoke again.

"Would you like to go back now?"

He nodded, and she rubbed his back comfortingly as she slid the chair back, moving to stand in front of him. Her hand left his back, and he felt her fingers gently prying his loost from where they were digging into the thin material of his pants, and then her hands worked their way up his arms, unlocking them from around his legs. Her hands pressed down on his knees, and he let his legs follow her command.

He hadn't expected her to move up against him, drawing him into a hug. He expected even less to have her lift him from the chair, cradling his much larger form against hers. He didn't know how this small woman was able to manhandle him so easily - she was much stronger than she appeared - but he didn't resist her. He clung to her warmth, to her comfort, and buried his face into her neck to hide his tears.

* * *

><p>Armin was on his way down to the labs when he came across them. At first, he wasn't sure what he was seeing, but he didn't have much time to puzzle it out before Lieutenant Petra was calling him out.<p>

"Can you give me a hand?" she asked him, and he complied. He took her bag, helping her work it off of her shoulder as she adjusted her grip on the teenage boy clinging to her like a toddler. She made soothing noises as he began to shake again, and Eren settled down against her once more, compliant.

When they reached the cell, Armin unlocked it, the two guards normally posted there absent.

"Where—"

"Eren's meeting with Corporal Levi was supposed to go on for longer, so they were relieved for a break. We're going to wait here until they come back," she told him, and her request for help made more sense to him now.

"What happened?"

"That is for the corporal to tell, not me," she said sharply, and Armin wisely curbed any further questions. While Petra was kind and outgoing, a natural mother hen to all the new recruits, she was also their superiour officer. She didn't often issue orders – mostly turning them into requests instead - but that didn't mean she was a pushover, and it was easy to forget that she _could_ order them around.

"Sorry, Lieutenant," he said, "I was out of line."

"Yes, you were. But enough of that. I shouldn't have asked you to attend to Eren with me, orders being what they are." She sighed, moving to the bed and kneeling down, letting Eren come to rest on the flat surface. She began to coax him to let go, her hands working gently to break his grip on her.

"Mom," he moaned, and she made hushing noises.

"It's going to be okay, Eren," she told him. "Just sleep now, okay? You don't need to do anything else today, okay?"

"Mhmm," he mumbled, and it wasn't long before Petra was straightening her uniform, staring down at the sleeping boy.

After several minutes, Petra shook her head, moving towards the door.

"Lieutenant?"

"We can wait outside," she said, and he didn't miss the command in her quiet words. He stepped out of the room, letting her draw the door closed and locking it. They leaned against the wall outside the cell, and Petra placed a hand over her eyes tiredly.

"You are to tell no one of being here, understood?" she told him, and he blinked. Before he could respond, she continued.

"Anyone who is close to Private Braus is restricted from coming down to the cells, and most especially from having contact with either of our… _guests_," she said, drawling the last word a bit. Her eyes were hard, serious, and Armin nodded.

"Just in case, right?"

"General Smith was quite adamant that no brutality was to occur to the prisoners. As of right now, they're being treated as material witnesses instead of accomplices. Any… action taken in the form of vengeance will ruin whatever progress we are attempting to make. You are to pass this on to your fellow privates, understood? You are all justified in your anger, and I am not excusing the actions that were taken against Private Braus. But no late-night visits to the cells, or _any_ visits to the prisoners, is that clear?"

"Yes, sir!" he said, saluting sharply. "I was on my way to the labs to assist Dr. Zoe with research. Is there another way to reach the labs that bypass the cell block?"

"Not one that's accessible to a soldier of your rank," Petra admitted. "You will need to have a superiour officer escort you until further notice."

Nothing more was said between them, and when the guards returned, Armin was excused to return to his previous duties. He continued towards the lab, his thoughts racing.

'_Material witnesses? What do they hope to achieve? Do they honestly believe that the Jaeger children had no involvement?'_

A traitorous part of his mind whispered to him, _'What proof is there that they _were_ involved, except your own anger?__'_

* * *

><p>Levi did not retrieve Mikasa earlier than normal, despite his time with Eren being cut short. He hadn't expected the boy to open up as much as he had that quickly, but it wasn't until the boy shut down completely that he realized why the kid had been so open.<p>

_Exhibits symptoms of post-traumatic stress when questions of family is involved, _Levi wrote in his notes, and then grabbing a different file, scrawled out another note.

_Eren Jaeger spoke to Leader(?)— highly likely._

When Petra let the girl in, Levi had finished with the Jaeger boy's files and had the sister's questions ready. She stared at the table, ignoring the plate of food resting in front of her. Apparently her willingness to eat food - on her brother's orders - had faded. He made a note of that in his notebook, letting her settle in before starting on his questions.

"Today will not be as pleasant as yesterday," he started, much like he had with Eren. "There were several questions that you didn't wish to answer, and while I let them slide yesterday, I will need to try and get as much as I can. I don't expect everything to be answered today," he clarified, watching her body tense. "The more you're able to answer, the less time we have to spend picking it apart. Is this clear?"

"Yes," she said quietly, picking up the nutrient-laced juice on her tray and sipping at it absently. He carefully scanned over his notes, before settling on the one that he kept asking himself repeatedly.

"How did you end up in the Jaeger household?"

Mikasa didn't freeze, her hand didn't tremble as she moved the cup away from her lips. Her body didn't flinch at the words, didn't show distress, and to the untrained eye she was unaffected by his question. But just like last time, she didn't need to do any of those things to show that her guard was up. Her eyes were cold and hard, and didn't waver from a point she picked seemingly at random, as if she had decided that if she didn't have look at him, it wasn't real.

"I was rescued," she said, her words not wavering, rising in tone, or dropping into a whisper. Her voice was level, even, but emotionless. It was similar to the detached tone Eren had taken, and he noted that despite not sharing genetics, they shared many other behavioural traits.

"Who rescued you?" he continued, but the answer he received was not what he had expected.

"Eren."

He paused, his pen hovering over the paper, ready to write one of the Jaeger adult's names down. He stared at her, trying to assess if she was being truthful.

"Was Eren there with one of his parents?"

"No. He was there alone. Grisha found both of us a few hours later, after… after it was all over."

It was that waver in her voice, the way she had to pause to keep up her completely calm appearance that gave away her distress. He made a note to follow up with both kids on this topic before moving onto a new question.

No need to have a repeat of Eren's… breakdown.

"What do you know of the Jaeger's extended family?"

"They don't have any that I know of. Eren's grandparents were never spoken of, and they never talked about any aunts, uncles, or cousins. I asked once, but Carla brushed it aside, saying that she was an only child."

He noted that she didn't hesitate to answer, that her body was relaxing. He hadn't asked her these questions before, but Eren's interrogation - _'Interview,'_ he imagined Petra reminding him - made them information that needed to be expanded on as much as possible.

"The night of the dinner party-" Mikasa tensed up again at his words, but Levi continued regardless, "-a phone call was made to the Jaeger home. Do you know who was on the phone?"

"No. I heard it ring, but I was in my room, waiting to be told I could come join the party."

"Why weren't you at the party to start with?"

"Carla was particular about her parties. She would begin them with Grisha - if he was present - and make her rounds with the guests. Then she would come get us after a while, and we would make our own round of greetings. After that, we'd have dinner, and then we'd be sent to bed while the adults had coffee and dessert. I was finishing getting ready to go out when the gunshots started."

"And you never heard who was on the phone?"

"No. Why is that so important?"

"It is very important. That phone call was what prompted the attack."

Mikasa took another sip of her drink.

"So that's why… Eren never said a thing. I knew he had an issue with the phone, but…"

"Eren took that call, yes, and he spoke to the individual who we believe is in charge of whatever agents remain in the country."

"Eren doesn't have anything to do with that," she said, her voice growing cold. "He isn't like them."

"For his sake, I hope he isn't either. But you have to understand our position here," he said, setting his pen down and lacing his fingers together. "The Jaegers were the head of the cell in the United States. They were the ones who would have had knowledge of other agents, of who would be above them. Both Carla and Grisha have been confirmed dead—"

"Grisha's dead?" she cut in, her eyes widening. "Since when?!"

"Have you seen him recently?" Levi asked, and Mikasa shook her head.

"No, not since— He left for work and we never saw him again. But there was no mention, the news—"

"It wasn't announced in the news. We kept it under wraps in case it started another attack or shifted the balance of power. Carla's death couldn't be hidden, because her body was found among the casualties, though her killer is still at large."

"The military killed her. What's so suspicious about that?"

"No, she was dead long before the military reached the town. She never made it out of her house. She was executed within the first ten minutes of the attack."

"…Executed?" she asked, her voice taking on an odd tone. Her eyes finally pulled away from that odd point of space she had fixated on, meeting his intent gaze.

"One bullet to the forehead. She had been kneeling, according to the autopsy."

Mikasa closed her eyes, setting the cup down.

"I'm done," she said, her words quiet. "I don't want to talk anymore tonight. I want my brother."

Levi didn't press it. He waited until Petra came into the room - she had been observing on the other side of the mirror - and took her from the room before he let his head fall into his hands tiredly, a groan slipping from his lips.

'_The more we find out, the more questions we have,_' he realized, his own list having only grown longer.

What happened that night? What did those two kids refuse to talk about?

* * *

><p>Mikasa was almost vibrating with tension by the time Eren was led to her cell. He was tightly wrapped up in his blankets, and the hollow, dead look in his eyes had her breath catching. It did nothing to stop her from flinging herself off of the bed and rushing over to wrap her arms around him and draw him close to her body.<p>

"What happened?" she asked, and his shaky response did nothing to comfort her.

"Nothing. Just some tough questions."

"Bullshit," she hissed, glaring over his shoulder at the two officers she was becoming quite familiar with. The woman, to her credit, didn't flinch or draw back, and neither did Levi.

"Drop it, Mikasa," he snapped, and she pulled back, concerned. He normally wasn't this harsh with her, and a pang of fear and anger wormed its way into her chest. It was the reason she didn't think before she asked him what had been on her mind since her own questioning session earlier that day.

"Why didn't you tell me about Carla?"

He froze, his eyes widening and focusing more intently on her. She was sure her own anger was visible in her eyes, and she wasn't going to let him out of this. Not when her own doubts were starting to make themselves known again. "Why didn't you tell me how she died?"

"I didn't—"

"Don't try to tell me you didn't know," she hissed, taking her arms from around him and stepping back several paces. She resolutely ignored the two officers watching them, all of her attention on her little brother. "She died ten minutes after the attack. _Before_ you came to get me. What else haven't you told me about? The phone call? Grisha? My own parents? What the hell were you doing there that night? _What happened?!_"

She didn't realize she was screaming, that she had been moving towards Eren again until the female officer's face filled her vision, pushing her back and away from her brother, who was being pushed back by Levi. Eren's eyes were filled with hurt, and her own stomach twisted with guilt and horror as her words sank in.

"Eren, I'm sorry, please—"

"I think," Levi said coolly, cutting her off, "that we're done for tonight."

Her body started to tremble as she watched Eren be escorted away, and when the door to her cell closed, she dropped to her knees and screamed.


	7. Catnaps

"This is getting ridiculous," Levi ranted, slamming a filing door closed in his office and yanking open another one. The large, metal container rattled, the files sliding back against the force and frustrating him even more. Hanji watched with no small amount of amusement from his desk, spinning the chair lazily in circles as he worked out his anger on the innocent office furniture.

"We've spent more time on their personal drama and codependency issues, and have barely begun to scratch the surface of what we need from them! I should have stuck with my original plan of interrogating the fuck out of their sick, little minds, and not coddling them for the truth instead," he continued, striding across the room with a few file folders in his hands. He tossed them on his desk, the files sliding across the polished wooden surface. He saw Hanji reach out and stop them from going over the edge, which would have probably pissed him off even more since the papers would have scattered on the carpet.

"It was a decision above your head, and you know that this way will get you further in the end," Hanji told him, not bothering to sugarcoat it. "Your way would have caused too many problems. We're dealing with _kids_, Levi; we can't just torture them and get what we want."

"Yes, we can," Levi muttered, petulant. Hanji raised an eyebrow.

"What good would that do? You have two fifteen-year-old children who lived through one of the worst attacks we've seen on American soil in the last decade. Eren, more likely than not, watched his mother be killed. Their father never came back, and we know that Grisha is deceased as well. They're alone with only each other for support and comfort, and have been that way for five years. What surprises you about their relationship? Their dependency on each other for stability and happiness? Those two… how did you put it, 'basket cases' are this country's last hope in figuring out what happened, and what will be happening."

Levi leaned against the wall, putting a hand over his eyes and rubbing at the bridge of his nose in a vain attempt to relieve the headache forming. He knew Hanji was right, he _knew_ all of this already, but it was still frustrating to have to stop in the middle of making progress to deal with one of the kids having a mental breakdown of some sort. It was annoying to have to walk on eggshells around the two, but even then the eggshells were invisible and he had no idea where to gain steady footing.

"This won't be solved in a single night, Levi," Hanji said, her voice going soft. "This is going to take time, dedication, and perseverance. It's why Lieutenant Ral was assigned to help you, to help with the fallbacks and the breakdowns and the general fuck up's that are going to happen. It's why we're doing all we can on our end so that they can help us on theirs. Now, go back to your quarters, get drunk off your ass, and get some sleep."

Levi nodded, feeling the exhaustion creeping up on him. It was a good suggestion, and that was why he valued his friendship with Hanji. Even when he was losing his mind, she would step in and slap him back to reality.

* * *

><p>Sasha sat on the hospital bed, watching as Krista drew another vial of blood with an expert, steady hand. The other woman's blonde hair had fallen in front of her face again, blocking Sasha's view of her large, light blue eyes and cheerful face, which was what she had been focusing on just a few moments ago.<p>

"How are you doing today?" Krista asked her, and Sasha shook her head.

"Better, I guess. I'm not… jumping as much? I… How is Connie?"

Krista shook her head, and that was all Sasha needed to know.

He was still unconscious, despite what the doctors and Eren had claimed.

"It's been over a week now," Sasha whispered. "Why isn't he waking up?"

"We're doing our best to figure that out," Krista assured, snapping the protective plastic covering over the used needle and setting it aside, pulling the rubber band off of Sasha's arm. She watched as Krista stemmed the bleeding with a cotton ball and then bandaged her arm, and didn't say anything as Krista walked out.

"I'll fix this, Connie," Sasha whispered, getting off the hospital bed. "I'll fix everything."

* * *

><p>Eren refused to go with the guards the next morning, not wanting to deal with the inevitable questions yet. He knew Levi was going to ask about what his sister had said, had accused him of, and he wasn't ready for that. So he stayed where he was, wedged under the bed and wrapped in his blanket, content and determined to ignore the world.<p>

So when he heard the cell door opening again he ignored it, curling up tighter and pressing his hands over his ears.

"Oi, I don't have time to deal with your bullshit today. Get out from under there."

Eren stiffened, shock flooding his mind. He hadn't expected Levi to come in person, and now Eren was even more determined to not leave the safety of underneath his bed.

"Go away," he mumbled, the words distorted by the blanket clenched between his teeth.

"Don't make me drag you out."

"I'm not moving."

"Suit yourself," he heard Levi say before a hand wrapped around his ankle, tugging him non-too-gently sideways. He scrambled to grab hold of one of the steel legs, but his arms were wrapped quite well, and the way Levi was pulling at his leg had him turning onto his stomach, trapping him as he was extracted from his safe haven.

Eren struggled to get out of the blanket, ignoring whatever it was Levi was saying at this point. His heart was pounding, fear overtaking him. As a weight settled over him, Eren's instincts kicked in, arching his back in an attempt to get rid of the person on top of him.

"Hold still you little shit!"

"Corporal, stop!"

A flash in his vision, and Eren lashed out, biting whatever dared approach. The taste of blood flooded his mouth, and he felt a sharp pain in his neck, his mouth opening to release a cry. He felt the blanket loosen enough to free his arms, and he shoved the weight off of him, his feet kicking out at Levi as they were freed as well.

The first thing Eren noticed was that the door was still open.

The second thing he noticed was that Petra was not near the door.

The third thing he noticed was that Levi was not back on his feet yet. Eren lashed out, his foot connecting with the side of Levi's head before he spun, racing for the door. A small voice in the back of his mind was screaming at him to stop, to not do this, that it would fuck everything up, but the rest of him didn't care. The rest of him was filled with panic, the need to escape and hide, to get away from people and be alone. That was the part he listened to as he raced down the hallway, ignoring the shouts and sounds of pursuit behind him.

It was instinct again that had him dropping into a crouch as a gunshot rang through the corridor, and a flash of brown had him twisting to the side, barely avoiding another shot from a soldier he wasn't expecting to see.

The woman he had taken hostage, who he had forced to lead him to his sister, was standing in the hallway wearing a set of scrubs not unlike the ones he was wearing and aiming a gun at him.

"Private Braus, stand down!" he heard Petra shout, but the woman ignored her. Eren stared at her cautiously, dropping into a loose crouch in a ready attempt to flee.

"You hurt him," she whispered. "He won't wake up. Why won't he wake up? Why did you hurt him?"

"I didn't—"

"_He_ _won__'t wake up!" _she screamed, and Eren dropped flat as another bullet flew over his head. He pushed himself forward, tackling her legs and reaching out a hand to jerk the gun to the side, another bullet lodging in the wall. A flash of red hair let Eren know that Petra caught up with them, becoming another set of hands to take the gun away and keep her pinned to the ground. Eren scrambled backwards, but hands gripped him as well.

Panicked, he dropped forward, his hands catching himself from smacking the floor as he swept his legs again, feeling them connect to solidly built ones. He felt hands grab his legs, pulling him, and he flailed, trying to free himself without any success. Arms clamped over his, pinning them to his sides as he was lifted into the air.

"Let me go!" Eren screamed, squirming and trying to loosen the hold against him. But all he felt was a sharp prick in his neck before the world started to feel hazy, his muscles relaxing on their own. Dazed, he stared off to the side, seeing only a shimmering haze of colours.

"Take him back to his cell and make sure he remains there until I'm ready to deal with him."

"Yes, sir!"

* * *

><p>Armin stood off to the side of the hospital room as Sasha was brought back in, Captain Zacharias cradling the sobbing woman in his arms. He laid her down on the bed, holding her there as several orderlies ran over, pulling out leather restraints and tying them onto her, keeping her from moving too far in any direction. Jean and Marco were standing beside him, watching the proceedings with a seriousness neither tended to possess around each other.<p>

A few minutes later Levi walked in, a red-stained cloth wrapped around his hand.

"Private Sasha Braus, what the _fuck_ did you think you were doing?" he said, his voice as cold as his words. She flinched, trying to curl up but being unable to do more than bend her knees a little.

"I was fixing it. I was fixing _everything_."

"You fixed nothing. You _caused_ more problems. Now we have three soldiers out of commission and a useless witness."

"He won't wake up! _Do you understand?!_ Connie isn't waking up! That… that _boy_ broke Connie, and I was going to fix it!"

"How would killing Eren Jaeger help Private Springer?"

"An eye for an eye, sir," she said, her voice calming down. There was a raspy, hoarse quality that gave away her previous screaming. The change in her demeanour was quite scary when Armin thought about it.

"Your actions will be discussed later after a full psych eval has been performed. Until then, you are restricted to this bed. Any actions required, including bathing and taking a shit, will be supervised. Understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"And as for the rest of you," Levi said, raising his voice and looking towards the soldiers lined up against the wall with Armin, "the same consequences will be applied to you if you are caught near the prisoner's cell block unaccompanied by a senior officer. There is a lot riding on the cooperation of the Jaeger children, and you will _not_ fuck this up. Understood?"

"Yes, sir!" the soldiers replied in unison, saluting. Levi nodded, turning and leaving the room.

Armin let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding, and slumped back against the wall.

"Everything's going to hell," Jean muttered, and Armin just laughed. The bitterness was clear in his words as he corrected Jean.

"No, we were already in Hell. Now it's just starting to burn."

* * *

><p>Eren didn't fight as they secured him to the mattress, large leather bands encircling his wrists, ankles, and waist. He didn't fight as they hooked him up to some monitors, and he didn't fight as they injected more stuff into the side of his neck. He felt nothing as he drifted there, time not mattering until the sound of a chair sliding across concrete echoed in the room and a cool hand pressed against his forehead.<p>

"Eren? Will you talk with me?"

It was Petra, and Eren blinked, trying to focus so he could see her. She was smiling gently, smoothing a hand over his brow in calming, repetitive gestures, and he nodded slowly.

"What happened today?"

"Nn, d'nno," he said, his mouth feeling bloated and numb. "Get 'way, safe."

"You attacked the corporal, Eren. You understand you won't be able to see your sister for a while because of that?"

"Mmm," he hummed. "She don' wan'ta see me an'more."

"I don't think that's true. She loves you very much," Petra assured him, but Eren shook his head.

"She hates me now."

His lips weren't feeling as numb, the words forming easier as his thoughts began to clear.

"She hates me."

"No, she doesn't, Eren," Petra said calmly. "She's upset, yes, but she still loves you."

"She's mad at me; she hates me."

"Love and anger aren't related, Eren," Petra insisted. "She can be angry with you and still love you. When you're upset with Mikasa, do you hate her?"

"No! I… I don't…"

"I'm sure you get upset with her sometimes. Do you get upset when she doesn't eat? When she does something that makes you feel unhappy?"

Eren closed his eyes, biting his lower lip.

"She… she doesn't hate me?"

"No, she loves you so much. She's just upset right now, and people say things they don't mean when they're mad. It doesn't mean she doesn't love you anymore."

"She's all I have left," Eren whispered, his voice cracking. "I can't… I can't lose her too."

"I know, but for a few days you won't be allowed to see her. You attacked the corporal, so that's the consequence. I will be visiting with you until you're feeling better, okay?"

"Yes, ma'am."

Eren let his eyes unfocus, retreating back into the safety of his mind as Petra left the cell. He felt lighter inside, even hopeful, with the thought that Mikasa didn't hate him.

"Did you love me too, Mom?" Eren asked aloud, a tear sliding from the corner of his eye. "Did you have room to love me, too?"


	8. Catnaps 2

"He really did a number on you, didn't he?" Hanji asked, an antiseptic wipe cleaning the bite marks the boy had left after his freak-out on Levi. Aside from the obvious one on his hand - which Hanji had confirmed broke two of the bones - he had several claw marks running down his neck and back, along with another bite mark on his back right below his left shoulder, that he was given right before the fucking shit was sedated.

"No shit," Levi grumbled, his breath catching as Hanji chose that moment to press the alcohol pad deeper into the cut. When he glared at her, she just gave him an innocently sweet smile.

"Don't want to get an infection, after all. Who knows when the last time that Eren had a chance to brush his teeth?"

The thought had Levi's face turning green, his tongue sweeping across his own (perfectly cleaned and maintained) teeth. Did the kid have a toothbrush in his cell? When _was _the last time the brat had a chance to clean off the germs and plaque building up?

"Oh, wow, it was a joke, Levi. You look like you're about to be sick."

"It's not a fucking joke," Levi snarled, ignoring as the wipe was pushed further into the wound. "That is disgusting. Who was put in charge of making sure their hygiene was maintained?"

"You were."

Levi balked.

"Have they even been allowed to shower?!"

"Nope! The most I think they could have done was a tap-water bath with hand-soap!" Hanji said, the cheerfulness in her voice not matching the words coming from them. Levi felt dizzy, the thought of how much _filth was on their bodies—_

"Hey, don't pass out on me or I'm taking you back to the infirmary!"

"Just finish up already so I can go fix this," Levi snarled, and Hanji chuckled.

As soon as the last bandage secured, Levi pulled his shirt back on and fastened his vest back into place before striding down towards the prisoner cells. It had been at least four hours since the incident, and right now Levi had more pressing matters on his mind than isolating the little shits.

He found Petra first, sitting in his office looking over the kids' files. She looked up at his entrance, calmly closing Eren's folder and rising to her feet.

"What is the boy's condition?" Levi demanded, and Petra gave a light smile.

"Lucid, emotional, but not in any danger."

"Good. Go find a change of clothes in his size and some bathing supplies. Get some ready for the girl, too. Leave them in my own quarters, I'll be taking care of Eren first, then you will help with the girl."

To her benefit, Petra did not question his orders, but merely saluted and left to go do what he had requested. He pulled out a set of plastic coveralls, sliding them on and securing them before pulling on a pair of latex gloves, snapping them into place and then positioning a mask over his nose and mouth. Once he felt sure that he was adequately protected, he made his way to the boy's cell. The guards took one look at him before dismissing themselves, which saved him the need to do so. Pulling open the door to Eren's cell, he stepped in and didn't bother to close it behind him.

The boy was still restrained, the IV in his arm keeping a steady flow of nutrients and mild sedatives in the teen's body. Levi unhooks him, releasing the straps and hauling the half-dazed boy to his feet.

"Don't fucking try anything or I'll do this unconscious, understand?" Levi snarled, and the boy blinked slowly, nodding in confusion.

"Where…?"

"Don't ask questions."

Eren nodded again, rubbing one of his (dirty, filthy, _grimy_) hands against his (_equally_ grimy, filthy, foul!) eyes as Levi forcibly dragged him along down the hallway and back towards his own personal quarters. It was one of the first things he had demanded upon promotion, and Erwin hadn't argued at the order for his own private bathing area. Which was rather convenient now, as he didn't have the time or patience to secure the public baths for the boy's use.

Levi shoved the boy in first, before following and closing the door behind him, locking it and sliding his shoes off.

"Strip."

He could see the boy's body stiffen in shock, his face turning a god-awful shade of red as the words slowly penetrated the filthy brain behind the filthy face. He squawked something that Levi couldn't understand before wrapping his arms around himself protectively, as if the gesture could stop Levi from getting the grime off of his body.

"_Now_." The boy didn't move, and it took Levi stepping towards him to get another reaction from Eren.

"What the hell—?"

"You either remove those disgusting rags or I will."

Eren started pulling them off hastily, and Levi grimaced as the boy carelessly let the germ-infested material drop onto his floor. He didn't waste a moment before pushing the bare boy into the bathroom, turning the faucet on and turning it to the shower setting. Eren, finally understanding what was going on - seriously, what was wrong with kids these days? - stepped under the spray without needing Levi to prompt him.

"I'm hoping you're capable of doing this yourself, because I won't fucking hesitate to assist," Levi snapped, and Eren flushed harder, turning his body away from Levi and picking up the soap bottle resting along the shelf inside the shower. Levi leaned against the doorframe, eyeing the boy speculatively.

The form was scrawnier than he had thought under the too-large clothes, bruising and scars littering the (hopefully natural, or else Levi was going to be sick) darker skin.

Having studied the Jaeger adults for years, it wasn't hard for Levi to see that their son took mostly after the mother. His colouring, height, and frame resembled the photos of Carla, though it was impossible to determine if his stubborn and annoying personality came from her as well. He could hardly see any of the father in the boy, though if he squinted he could make out the stoic, German man in his son. It lightened his skin several shades, diluting the Turkish genetics, as well as giving a harder edge to the boy, unlike his gentle-appearing mother (though the softness that Eren had could have still been the youth he retained).

"Use more soap," Levi demanded, making the boy jump and slip a little. He caught himself on the wall, stopping him from falling flat on his ass, which Levi would have had no pity or remorse for. "God knows what diseases are growing on your skin."

"I've been washing regularly," Eren said petulantly, but obediently poured more soap onto the sponge and scrubbed at his skin again.

"Tap water and hand soap doesn't count as washing," Levi said, wrinkling his nose in disgust. "That doesn't even come close."

"Well, I fucking worked with what I had!" the boy snapped, throwing the sponge down and spinning around. "If you're going to bitch about me doing my fucking best with what _you_ provided me, then at least bitch at the right fucking person!"

"And who would that be?" Levi asked, his words holding a dangerous edge that threatened to turn lethal. Eren seemed to ignore the warning tone, and pushed on regardless.

"Go take a look in the fucking mirror, you piece of shit."

Levi took a sharp breath, stepping forward without thinking. Eren didn't waver, his hands clenched tightly at his sides and trying to look as threatening as he could. Levi had to hand it to the kid; even standing naked under a spray of water and surrounded by steam, the boy managed to not look too pathetic. More like a drenched lion and less like a drowned kitten.

"I'd watch your fucking tongue, _brat_."

"I will if you will," Eren snapped. "I'm not going to let you treat me like dirt because you're having a pissy fit because of something _you_ caused."

Levi snarled quietly, yanking the boy down to eye level by his hair. Glaring at him harshly, Levi hissed, "You're lucky I'm still on orders to not treat you like the criminal you are."

"I don't give a shit how you treat me," Eren replied just as quietly, his voice flattening out and losing the anger it held. Now, he just sounded tired, _defeated_ even. "Just be consistent with it. I'm tired of you fucking around with my head."

Levi let go, backing up several steps before resuming his place back at the door, leaning once more against the wall.

"Hurry up, I don't have all day."

"Yes, sir," the boy replied, and Levi pushed aside the nagging feeling in the back of his mind that he had done something wrong.

He wasn't in the wrong here. He _wasn__'t._

* * *

><p>Mikasa washed herself silently in the shower, glad that Petra had been kind enough to turn away and offer her a semblance of privacy. It felt nice to be under the hot spray of water, to rid herself of the dirt and grime that her sponge baths hadn't done much to remove, but it was hard to feel grateful for the opportunity to wash when she still felt the churning guilt and shame for her actions towards Eren.<p>

How could she have said that to him? Eren was all she had left, and she had gone and hurt him in the worst way. She _knew_ he had nothing to do with what happened that day, that he wasn't like Carla and Grisha, that he had saved her life on several occasions. He had helped her live, and she had mocked him for it. She felt her eyes burning once again with tears, and closed them tightly, tilting her head back to stop them from forming.

She waited until she had control of herself again before turning the water off, stepping onto the slightly damp mat and grabbing the towel that Petra had brought with her. She quickly dried herself off, wrapping the towel around her head to absorb more water as she pulled her clothes on. She wished she could wear a bra, but that wasn't included in the standard hospital garb that Petra had given her. Her chest wasn't overly large, but it was still uncomfortable to walk around other people without some type of support. She crossed her arms over her chest, clearing her throat to get Petra's attention.

"All done?" Petra asked, her words light and friendly, and Mikasa nodded silently.

"Okay! We just need to make a stop by the infirmary to get your vitals and then we can go back to your room."

"Can… can you pass a message on for me?" Mikasa asked softly as they walked down the hallway. Her feet were bare, the socks that Petra had grabbed were too small for her feet and thus left on the counter in the bathroom, and the concrete floors were cold against her skin. It was easy to focus on that sensation, pushing aside the pain in her chest from thoughts of her own actions.

"It depends, Mikasa," Petra responded. "If you tell me, I can let you know."

"Will you tell Eren that… Tell Eren that I'm sorry. I didn't mean it… I wasn't trying to say that I blame him."

Petra stopped walking, turning to look at Mikasa curiously. There was a look in her eyes that Mikasa couldn't place, but it wasn't long before Petra turned back around and continued walking on towards the infirmary.

"I'll let him know, Mikasa."

Nothing else was said for the rest of the journey, the only noise coming from the sound of their feet against concrete, the guards saluting and saying, "Lieutenant" respectfully, and the hum of life on the outskirts of Mikasa's vision. Laughter came from one room, and it made her feel a little disoriented.

When was the last time she'd heard laughter? When was the last time she had laughed?

The sound cut off as they turned a corner and approached the hospital doors. Petra pushed them open, holding one open for Mikasa to step through. The ward was quiet, the only sound a steady beeping at the nurse's station and a muted conversation from a room off to the side, the door barely propped open. Petra lead her past the desk to one of the rooms she had quickly grown familiar with during her first stay, motioning for her to sit on the bed as she closed the door and pressed a button to the side of it. A red light turned on above the button, and Petra leaned against the wall, crossing her ankles idly as she shifted a little.

The small, blonde nurse from her first visit came into the room not even a minute later, a cheerful smile painting her face awash with a brightness that was hard to look at.

"Oh, hello again! Time for a check-up?" she asked, glancing for confirmation at Petra. A subtle nod was all that was given back, and she turned towards Mikasa with a smile.

"Okay, are you in pain anywhere?"

_My heart_, she thought, but knew that was not what the nurse meant. So she shook her head, silently holding her arm out for the pressure cuff to be attached. The nurse, "Call me Krista!," worked quickly and efficiently, taking her pulse, blood pressure, temperature, blood sugars, and drawing her blood work without a pause or misstep. It was barely five minutes later that she was pulling her gloves off, disposing of the needle in the container against the wall and offering a kind parting.

"I hope you'll recover fully, Mikasa!"

On their journey back, Mikasa remained quiet, watching her feet take one step after another, the heels of Petra's shoes in her peripheral vision giving her a path to follow without looking up. It was as they reached her cell that Mikasa finally spoke again.

"She's too nice."

"Oh, Krista's always been like that," Petra responded, following Mikasa's train of thought. "She doesn't have a mean bone in her body."

_Unlike me, _she couldn't help but think. Petra kept talking, ignorant of Mikasa's internal correction.

"Her girlfriend makes up for that completely though!"

Mikasa blinked, looking up into Petra's amused face.

"It's one reason no one has tried to break her of the habit. Besides, this is a messy business, and we need something to keep us going. Krista becomes that for most of us."

As Mikasa entered her cell, Petra offered a word of parting, a smile playing at the edges of her lips.

"Make sure to finish your dinner. I'd hate to have to tell Krista you're neglecting yourself again. She hates to see people suffer."

_You manipulative bitch_, Mikasa thought bitterly, but found herself unable to resist picking up the tray and taking it over to the bed, sitting down and balancing the tray on her knees. She couldn't put Krista's kind smile out of her mind as she lifted her fork to her mouth.

Mikasa hated it when people were nice to her.


	9. Catnaps 3

Eren had to say it was good to be clean again. He hadn't had the chance to wash properly since the day Mikasa had called the house phone to warn him. But he couldn't deny the pain that had blossomed in his chest at Levi's words.

"_You're lucky I'm still on orders to not treat you like the criminal you are."_

The words had hurt, though he refused to let that… that _bastard_ know that. Instead, Eren had decided to be the bigger man and not give in to the taunt, not give the man the reaction he had been digging for. So he had dropped it, finishing his shower (because god knew when he'd get another one) and dressing. It had been humiliating enough to be forced to strip and scrub in front of the older man. It had been too close to one of the dreams he'd had of the older man at night, though _that_ had ended a lot differently than yesterday's debacle.

"Fucking dick," Eren muttered aloud, rolling onto his side and staring at the wall. They weren't tying him down anymore, and the IV was gone as well, and it was nice to be able to hold onto a thought for longer than three seconds. He _hated_ drugs. He hated needles, he hated injections, he hated not being in control.

When breakfast came, he ate it without saying a word to the guard. Normally, he would tell them thank you, sometimes even asking what the weather was like outside, but today he ignored them. Eld, the guard who normally brought his food, seemed to hesitate before walking back out, his partner glancing between Eld and Eren. Eren was left to eat his breakfast in silence, the door not opening again until Petra came to retrieve him for his meeting with Levi.

Which he wasn't looking forward to in the slightest. But he took a deep breath, getting himself under control and making sure that his temper wouldn't boil over when he finally stepped into the room and had to see that bastard again. He couldn't stop the flare of anger at the sight of the short corporal, but didn't let it show on his face as he took a seat across from the bastard.

"There will be a few changes to our routine. The first being that every night you will be escorted to my quarters, where you will shower and receive new clothes. This will happen after dinner. Until further notice, you will not be permitted any contact with your sister. You will be brought clean sheets once a week, and you will change them and leave the old sheets with your meal tray to be removed. You will be provided basic toiletries, including a hair brush, which I expect you to use to keep yourself groomed and clean. Do you have any questions?"

"None, sir," Eren responded, keeping his voice pleasant. Levi gave him a long look, as if trying to see if Eren was being genuine, before opening the folder.

"Then let's get down to business."

* * *

><p>Armin placed the folders on the edge of Hanji's desk, a post-it note with today's date left on top of the pile, along with a rubber band securing them together. This was the safest way to make sure that nothing was lost in the chaos that was Hanji's desk, as other piles of folders, books, papers, and junk had overtaken the surface. Once a week she would comb through the clutter, getting things put away and filed as needed and cleaning her desk off so it looked workable, but then not even a day later it would be back to normal. Armin suspected the only reason Hanji got away with that was because Levi refused to go down to her office anymore, and no one else had the balls to order Hanji around.<p>

He couldn't help himself from letting his eyes wander over the other files, his natural curiousity driving him to look at dates and names that meant little to him. It was easy to forget that the Jaegers were not the only problem in the country; as head of Research and Intelligence, Hanji had many projects and lines of information to keep on top of, and the fact that they had the last two Jaegers in custody meant very little in the grand scheme of things.

"Overwhelming, isn't it?" a voice said from behind him, and Armin turned around quickly, letting a guilty, sheepish look take over his features as he laced his fingers together.

"Oh, don't worry. These are all just bits and pieces, nothing too compromising," she assured, walking around him and picking up a few pieces of paper. "Like these are some observation pieces from the Columbia agents," she said, turning a photo towards him, "and a person we believe to be involved in The Outfit," and then held up a folder, "and interrogation notes from the Buscelli and Merell case. They'll get placed where they belong, but you knowing just a few pieces of information isn't enough to be worried about."

Armin nodded, though he couldn't help but wonder why Hanji would show him this information so freely. A lot of these were confidential, on a need-to-know basis, but she seemed to not care as she set down the files and papers in her hands. She sat in her chair, gesturing to another one across from her, before lacing her fingers together and resting her chin on them.

"I know it's not really a secret that I've been considering taking you under my wing once Erwin approves it," Hanji started, and Armin gave a nod. It was why he had to come down so often, though now either Mike or Moblit had to escort him through the prisoner cell block. Hanji nodded as well, continuing to speak.

"But it's more than that. I'm not going to be here forever, and I need someone who will be able to take my place and keep things running as they should be. This isn't an easy position. It's downright exhausting, overwhelming, and frankly boring on some days. Having to sort through hundreds of active cases, and even more _in_active ones that might be related, and then the cold cases where information has dried up, and then you need to check and see if anything you've received might be able to shed light on those. It takes a lot of effort, and even more brainpower to know what you need to be doing."

"Are you saying you want me to… to…" Armin stuttered, his mind going blank as the concept slowly sank in.

"I want you to take over as head of the R&I when my time comes to an end. I don't plan on that being for several years, so there will be plenty of time to show you the ins and outs, don't worry! Erwin also knows this, so he understands my intentions and motivations and is willing to work with us on getting this going. But you still have to go through the motions, receive the proper promotions and ranks before anything can happen, and I can't show too much favouritism or else it'll cause problems down the road."

"I… I understand…"

"Oh dear, I think I broke you. Well, better scuttle off to lunch! We'll talk about this later in a more official setting."

"Yes, sir."

"Very well, run along."

Armin wandered from R&I in a daze, Moblit shooting him worried glances as they made their way through the building.

"Good luck," Moblit said as he turned to head back down to the basement, and Armin gave an absent nod, entering the mess hall in a fog.

Head of R&I. _Hanji Zoe_ wanted _him_ to take over for her. He couldn't stop the smile from breaking out across his face.

* * *

><p>Jean wondered when things became so complicated. It used to be very straight-forward; his job, his expectations, who were the good guys, and who were the bad ones. Now, it wasn't that simple.<p>

Sasha was being restrained in one of the holding cells awaiting a psychological evaluation, Connie was still in a coma, Armin was… doing something, he didn't get to see much of the other blond, and he swore the Jaeger brats got more privileges than they did.

He also felt Marco pulling away from him, though that might be in his own head. They usually spent a lot of their free time together, watching movies or hanging out, but recently Marco had been putting in extra hours, volunteering for more duties, and Jean didn't know why.

Well, he did, but he didn't want to think about _that_ mistake. He should have known better than to try and kiss his best friend.

He wanted to blame the alcohol. They had gotten shit-faced while watching crappy horror movies two weeks ago, and Jean had been stupid enough to try and show Marco what Jean felt for him. It hadn't ended well, and ever since then Marco had been doing everything to avoid being around him.

Shaking his head, Jean forced the memories from his mind as he raised his rifle again. Most of his free time was now spent at the range. His last evaluation had been lackluster, and Jean knew that if he wanted to stay on the fast track to a rank promotion, he needed to bring it up. He aimed down the scope, aligning the marks to the center of the 'head,' and pulled the trigger.

He swore as it pierced too far to the left, punching a hole through the thick black outline. That would have taken off an ear, but wouldn't stop a terrorist. Wouldn't stop another incident where Eren had them at his mercy. Wouldn't stop him from having more Connie's or Sasha's because he failed to protect them again.

He lifted his gun once more, reloading the chamber and aiming. He refused to give up, to fail, to be at the mercy of the enemy.

* * *

><p>Eren picked at his dinner, not feeling hungry but knowing that he should eat it anyway. He had not said thank you to Eld or Gunther again, ignoring them as they came in and placed his food down. He knew that after he finished eating, Levi would be coming back to take him to shower again. As the man had said, there was a kit waiting on his bed when he had arrived, and a pile of sheets had been on the table instead of lunch. Those had been taken when his lunch was brought, when he had also ignored Eld and Gunther's presence.<p>

He wasn't going to treat them like friends, not when he knew what they _really_ thought of him. He had thought, for a brief time, that they didn't see him as a copy of his parents, as a criminal, and had been warming up to the thought of being free again. Of not being scared to walk down the street, of not having to hide his face because it looked like _hers_. But Levi had set him straight, and these assholes didn't deserve the time of day. He was going to do his time, do his duty to his country, but that was it. He wasn't going to be nice about it, he wasn't going to harbour any illusions of freedom. He doubted he'd come out of this alive, that they'd ever let him go. He was going to be the scapegoat they needed because the real ones were dead.

Mikasa was angry at him, he had no friends here, he was the bad guy that they wanted. No, he was the one they _needed_. There was a difference, and Eren felt it clear as day. Even if their end goal was the same, he knew his role for them, and he was going to play it the way they wanted him to. So Eren felt his stomach twist as he tried to force the food down, wondering absently if Mikasa was eating her own meal. He hoped she was; she needed all the nutrients she could get.

He gave up on his meal after he choked on his own vomit, barely stopping himself from throwing up all over his tray. He lay down on his side, inhaling the scent of laundry soap on the pillowcase. He mused at how long it would take to stop breathing if he held it over his face. At least eight minutes, twelve at the most. His body would start trying to subconsciously save himself though, so a pillow wouldn't do it. He'd have to get it stuck, to where he couldn't use his hands to pull it away, or have enough room to jerk free and gasp for air.

His thoughts were interrupted as the door opened, the sound of boots on concrete echoing in his cell. Levi's deep voice followed shortly after, Eren sighing as the expected orders were issued.

"Get up and bring your kit."

Eren pushed himself upright, giving one last lingering look at his pillow before he reached over and grabbed the plastic-wrapped bathroom supplies he had placed on the small, stainless steel sink. He hadn't bothered to open it yet. He figured he'd wait until he was taken to a real bathroom.

He followed Levi in silence, one of the guards following along behind them. Eren didn't bother to look to see which one. At this point they were all the same to him. A small voice in the back of his head did remind him that Eld and Gunther would have been relieved of guard duty by now, but he shoved that aside. It didn't matter anymore when they were on shift. Nothing mattered anymore.

He moved towards the bathroom before Levi could even say anything, taking his clothes off and leaving them outside the door before turning the water on. He tore open his kit, taking out the soaps and leaving the brush, toothbrush, deodorant, and toothpaste on the counter. There wasn't a shaving razor in the kit, probably so that he couldn't be given a 'dangerous weapon' or some bullshit like that, and as Eren washed up he could feel the stubble that had slowly been growing along his jaw scratch against his skin. He normally didn't need to shave more than once a week, but it had been several by this point, and he finally had the beginnings of a beard. It disgusted him, seeing the hair on his face that grew in the same manner as _his_.

His face might look like _hers_, but it was _his_ beard that grew in.

Levi didn't try to talk to him, just leaned against the door frame and made sure Eren didn't do… whatever the fuck he could do in a shower that didn't involve showering. It was annoying and embarrassing, but if he was able to use hot water he wasn't going to bitch about it. He knew when to cut his losses, and this was one of those times.

_Will I ever have privacy again? Will I ever shower without having someone staring at me the entire time?_

Those weren't thoughts worth dwelling on, so Eren finished up and turned the water off, stepping out of the tub and drying himself off, dressing in the clean clothes provided, and tearing the plastic wrap off of the toothbrush. He scrubbed at his mouth, getting rid of the gritty yet slimy feeling that he had grown accustomed to. He ran a brush through his hair a few times, though he knew it wouldn't matter once his hair dried. At this length, it was only going to look like a mess, whether he tried to tame it or not. He really needed a haircut.

"Ready?" Levi asked, and Eren gave a single nod, picking up his showering gear and tucking it in the crook of his arm. Levi led him back, another guard trailing behind them at a distance. He could hear their footsteps, a slight step off from both Eren's and Levi's stride, and he focused on that instead of the bastard in front of him.

He put his supplies back in the basin on the sink once he was in his room, noting that his dinner was gone. He heard the door shut, locking him away from the real world once again. He felt the absence of his sister with a sharp pain in his chest, the need to have her by his side hitting him hard. He tried to push it aside as he laid back down on the bed, pulling the pillow to his chest and burying his face in it.

Twelve minutes. It would take twelve minutes to fix everything.


End file.
